Just Like Flying
by misa001
Summary: Set after MR4: The flock is out on another mission accompanied by a few unexpected guests. Where are they going? What's going to happen? What the hell is going on? GettingGreatReviews! More chapters to come! MaxXFang- not a one-shot!
1. West Virginia is for lovers

**Maximum Ride is amazing. I absolutely love the series (and Iggy! Oh yes! Like that girl in Virginia, I'm 5'10 too! Call me!) and figured I had to write a fanfic about this.**

**The plot is a work in progress...**

**(Thinking about it: Me: Where am I going with this? AHHHH! It sounds like a crappy start to a lemon or something! AHHH! CRAP! AHH! -headdeskheaddeskheaddesk-)**

**but someone once said write with your heart, revise with your head. And there are like four sentences in here I HATE with a passion (if you guess them write, you get a hug!) but all-in-all I hope to continue this story.**

**It's my first attempt at writing, but it turned out well. **

**I plan to continue this! Enjoy the first chapter! Reviews are appreciated!**

We - that is, myself and my little flock of mutant bird-kids- were flying over West Virginia when Nudge spoke up.

"Maaaaaaax," oh no. Here we go. "Can we _please _land for the night? It's getting really dark and even though we can see, you know, cause we can, I'm really tired and kind of hungry so I think we should land now. Those trees down there a really tall and thick so I think we could land on them and this area is pretty secluded, it _is _West Virginia- oh look! A bat!- and we could build a nice little fire and-"

"Nudge?" I asked, glancing at her over my shoulder. She was flying besides me, but my wings were blocking her out.

"Huh?"

"Yes. We can land."

"Okay! Just one more thing-"

"Look! Perfect landing spot!" I tucked in my wings and began falling immediately in order to land directly on my desired tree and to avoid Nudge's babbling. My flock followed suit, more slowly, as I took in the wonderful feeling of the wind on my skin and the feathers on my folded wings, shaken by the force of the wind-tunnel that I was going through. _Can you hear me now?_ The air in my ears drowned out any sound and for a few moments I was in pure ecstasy. That was until I saw the ground rushing oh-so-quickly towards my face.

With a fast push on the breaks i.e. WINGS OUT! DON'T DIE!, I managed to land semi-gracefully on two feet, hobbling a few unnecessary steps to catch my balance but ended up tripping on a stupid rock and tumbling forward. I hit the ground with a muffled "oof" and lay there for five seconds or so, feeling a little less confident about being the excellent leader my flock was counting on.

We had just left our new school- no, not the School, but a school that the government had built for us to use as a holding tank for their most prized fish. Us. Basically. At the opening ceremony, that stupid nagging voice in my head decided to tell me I had another mission to take care of. I had only been reunited with my mother and half-sister for a few months at that point, but when duty calls- especially nagging, stuck-in-your-head duty- you have to do something, right? Although I felt guilty about uprooting my little flock once again, I could feel the excitement in the air the day we left.

More missions, another purpose. Good enough for us.

Fang came up behind me then. I was lying on the ground, flipped on my back, looking at the stars between the thickly layered canopy of the trees when he walked up, stared down at me, hands in his pockets, and smiled that amazing smile that brightened even the darkest West Virginia night.

"Nice landing. And yeah, we saw it," he laughed and offered me his hand. I took it, he peeled me from the ground and I dusted off my back while he glanced around us, doing a 360 of the dark-depths of the forest while I checked myself for dirt, bugs, ect.

I could hear the other bird-brains shuffling through the trees about 30 feet above us, getting themselves comfortable for the night. I listened for Iggy and Gazzy's laughter ("Brown!" "It's tree-_bark_, genius." "Don't pick on the blind kid."), Nudge's chatter ("I'm hungry. Pancakes sound great, don't they? Funny word- _pancake_."), and the soft humming of 'you are my sunshine' by my darling, Angel. If I looked into the massive spruce they were resting in, I could see her white-as-snow wings like a light blur in the dark branches. My sweetie, Angel. My hoarder of weirdo powers.

_I love my family._

"Max?" I barely heard Fang's voice when he spoke to me. He was speaking one level above a whisper and staring off into the blurry black scenery that he mixed so well with. I cocked my head to look at him, studying his face.

"In a few hours, I'll wake you up, okay? We'll go flying," he mumbled quietly, still staring but a slight smirk betrayed the lack of excitement on his face. I smiled to myself at his attitude and briefly considered what he was planning, but then felt the sudden swell of panic I got oh-so-often.

Every other time we had gone somewhere alone at night, despite the different circumstances each time, he almost always had ended up kissing me. After his comment at the South Pole- _you can't have it both ways, Max_- I hadn't given our relationship much thought. Albeit, something was there and we both knew that. I just had no idea what I would do if he tried something again. I mean, geesh. I'm only a kid.

_With wings. Who's fought in countless fights to the death and saved her family and-_

Ok, a kid with exceptions.

Well, kid or not, something had to be done about this Fang-having-a-crush-on-me-and-me-not-having-the-slightest-clue-as-to-go-about-dealing-with-it-other-than-flying-away-or-freaking-out before someone got seriously hurt.

Like him. Or myself.

So, like it or not (I wasn't totally sure if I liked it or not... well, I knew what part of it I liked its just how I felt about it when it was over that confused me... whatever.), I smiled, slapped him on the back and said "Why sure, F'ang-darlin'."

You know what they say. When in West Virginia...

I woke silently, but very much alert.

Someone's hand was on my shoulder, but I couldn't see whose. It was dark, so I should be able to see whoever it was regardless of the time. But no, no one was there. But the warmth stayed on my shoulder and I knew someone was. Just then, Fang filtered through the darkness, turning visible again, his face 21 inches away from mine.

_Having extremely acute senses makes the need for a ruler CRAP._

He had his index finger pressed over his lips which I found funny, considering we'd all been trained to wake silently. I raised an eyebrow at him and mimicked what he was doing. He smiled, stood up, and I rolled my eyes.

I glanced around us at the rest of my flock. Iggy was slung over a tree-branch, out cold with the Gasman propped up against the same branch. Angel and Nudge were sleeping side-by-side, with Angel's head on her shoulder and Nudge's head rested over hers. I smiled to myself. They looked so innocent and cute when they were asleep.

_Ironic when you think about everything they can do. _

I felt Fang looking at me and turned quickly to meet his dark eyes. He tilted his head towards the sky and I understood exactly what our plan was.

Fly. Fly. Fly.

We took off seconds later, flapping our wings into the night-sky. God, it felt amazing to feel the wind under your wings, doing what you were made for out of your own free-will. For one or two miles, we flew together in silence and for about half of that, I forgot he was there. The entire sensation of flying had me off into another world, one where I could go anywhere, do anything. No strings attached. No clipped wings.

Fang's primary feathers tapped the top of mine and I noticed him flying over me, then next to me, then angling himself to a small lake, a half a mile ahead of us. He brought me back to reality and I went with him, completely aware that he was probably going to try and kiss me some time tonight.

I decided he was going to do this after I felt his stare on me the whole way here. And I decided I didn't mind until it happened if he did or not, I just wanted to skim my wings over the top of that amazingly dark pool of lakey lake-ness below. I'm such a sucker.

He landed by the lake as I caught up with him, stopping briefly to hover over the glassy dark surface and touch my feet to the chilly water. Then I landed besides him. He was sitting down, legs crossed casually, leaning back on his muscular, tan arms and looking up at me with a stare I didn't quite understand. I stood next to him, propped my elbow on his head and put my weight on that arm and sighed.

"Good night for flying," I said.

"Yep," he sighed, turning his head to look out at the darkness of the lake, the sky, the trees surrounding us.

"So," I sighed, matching his last sigh. "What's on your mind, Fang?"

I plopped down next to him on the grass and kept staring out into the pretty darkness. I tossed that question out into the open. May as well just get this thing, whatever, started.

"Uhm..." he mumbled. There was a strangled tone to his voice, like I had tied him down and started beating him for information. Not the best thought since it could happen. "Max... are we... together or what?"

"Uh..." I felt silly, but I was blushing. Thinking about all this was one thing, talking about it was another. I'd rather be punching someone's lights out than deal with my _emotions._ "I don't..."

"It's obvious that I have a thing for you though," it was more of a question than a statement, but I had no answer. Yes. It was obvious. Could I admit that and possibly risk leading him somewhere I didn't know existed? No. No way. "And, after Antarctica, you like me too."

Now that was a statement. Completely. I knew I did.

_You love me thiiiiiis much! _

But how was I supposed to admit it? What would happen to the flock? Would they treat me weirdly? I couldn't exactly keep it from them, not like I'd want to, since Angel could read minds. But she even said he loved me! So, if it were as simple as I'd heard people tell me, why couldn't I just make things simple?

I loved him. I knew this. He loved me. I know this, too.

But we were also always in some kind of danger. Could I risk it?

Should I?

"Yes," Oh no. Did I just say that out loud? NO! OH MY GOD- NO! That was meant for ME, just _ME _to hear! That was supposed to stay inside my head!

_Or was it?_

Shut up, conscience. You better than the voice, but not now.

I dared to look at Fang. I had never seen those creamy, tan cheeks turn pink before, but there. He was blushing. And smiling. Like a doofus. I really wished I had a camera just then.

"R-really?" he stuttered. Wow. A stutter. That was a first and also very cute. I wanted to hug him just then, too. I was being pulled out into a very strange sea. There was this odd tugging in my stomach, like I had to be closer to him just then or I'd completely fall apart. This giant weight that was keeping me together had just broken with one word.

"_Yes."_

And just like that, I said it again. The word that had just broken me in a very wonderful way. I was bewildered by this possibility, this feeling, when Fang's hand slipped over to my left cheek, softly and slowly trailing down my face until his hand reached my lips. His thumb slid over my bottom lip and I realized I was smiling.

He was only two inches away from my face now, and I could see the moonlight reflecting off his almost-black eyes. But no, there was the hint of a chocolate warmth there. I found it irresistible. I love chocolate.

It seemed like the best course of action was to kiss him. Well, ok. Sure.

I closed the distance between us within a second, one that felt like eternity, then my lips were on his, or his were on mine, whatever- we were kissing. Electricity went through my body and stung sweetly in my stomach were butterflies were flapping there wings madly. I had no thoughts, no concerns about the results of my actions then. I didn't care. Nothing but him and myself existed at that moment.

His arm wrapped securely around my waist and my arms sloppily (forIwaslikejelly) found their way around his neck. His lips, full and beautiful, were pressed lightly but firmly to mine, moving with me as his strong arm leveled me to on my back from my sitting position. His skin was so rough, worn from our days in the wild and on the run, but to me it felt like velvet.

He was kissing me differently now. There was a different longing in him, every part of him I realized when he positioned himself over me, one leg between mine, one on the other side of me, one hand on my waist, the other resting gently on the side of my face. His thumb was making circles on the crook of my ear. He liked making circles. Delicious, amazing circles.

_...changing your mind..._

Shhh, Max. Get a hold of yourself.

So I did. I took the lead then. I kissed him with gallons of kissing...ness. And he was more than happy to let me take the lead. I liked being in charge anyway. Fang was like chocolate. Wonderful, delicious chocolate. His tongue was doing something weird- he was obviously new at this, we both were- but I didn't mind. I enjoyed it. We both were enjoying ourselves tremendously.

I was letting go for a little while. I was just happy to get lost in him, the feeling of him, the knowledge that I really loved him and he loved someone as flawed and controlling as me. I knew he was happy to because a smile kept playing on his lips while we kissed.

Eventually, we both pulled away for air and he tucked my head on his shoulder and we sat like that for awhile, in silence. Nothing but our breathing and our warmth.

_... I'll never leave again. Not ever..._

Then we stood up, side by side, and spread our wings for flight.

But I was already flying.

**In case this popped into your head, the **_italic_** writing is both Max's conscience and the conscience repeating memories and quotes from the past books.**

**Hope you figured that out lol **

**Ok! ****Thanks for reading! Reviews are like Iggy- I just can't get enough.**


	2. The Voice in my head

**Let me just get this out in the open: THANKYOU FOR THE REVIEWS!! OHMYGOD! I was so down that I wasn't getting any reviews- I kinda didn't expect any at all, heh- but by some MIRACLE, I fooled around with this thing and found them! **

**THANKYOU SO MUCH. They were all so wonderful and positive! As soon as I read them, I started the next chapter! Or mini-chapters, depends on how you look at it- but thankyou so much! Really! I needed the encouragment!**

**And to one of my reviews who said they wanted to see where I could go with this, I hope I don't disappoint. I've got some ideas in my head and this is starting to go somewhere. **

**I will be on vacation next week, so the next chapter will take a little longer than usual ' I promise to give it my best though! I'll do another romance scene to make up for it!**

**Oh, and I keep forgetting to add Total and Akila... next chapter, I promise, they will be in there... but let's just pretend like they always were, okay? PLEASE?? I'm so embarrassed I kept forgetting... but still!**

**Again, thank you so much for the reviews and encouragement! Enjoy!**

* * *

Fang and I took our time flying back to camp.

I was still a little dizzy from everything we had just done, but he was making it worse, twirling around me like a yo-yo. His eyes screamed happiness and they seemed a little less black right then. I followed his movements carefully, watching the way he flew, how he pulled his wings close to himself when he fell around me then twisted them on the down-swing to flip over me- just to do it again.

I had been trying to keep from laughing for the past mile. I had never let anyone hold me or kiss me like Fang just did and I was expecting it to feel extremely awkward.

Well, ok. It was sort of awkward.

Being the two completely mature teenagers we are, after we were about two-hundred feet off the ground, we both froze up completely. I was nervous how Angel might react if she read our minds and how Fang would treat me. Now that he had seen my vulnerable side, one of my weaknesses, would he look at me the same way?

The answer? No.

He smiled like a love-struck schoolgirl. Nice, Fang. Very smooth.

But I couldn't help but feel happy when I saw that look on his face. After everything that had ever happened to us, he could still smile. He spun once more around me, passing in front of the sun like a flicker on an old movie screen. The sun was rising. It had just broken the horizon. The sky was a fresh salmon pink. Like a good, hard slap to an eraser face.

I was lost in thought, staring at him and the contrast he made with that pink sky, when I realized he was hitting me on the head with his feathers on every down stroke. I caught his stare and noticed panic swelling behind his eyes. An uncomfortable smirk played on his lips.

"Maaaaaaximum," he said. Oh god, I love his voice.

"What? What's wrong? What's going on?" I rambled. Was there a problem at camp? Why had he noticed and I didn't? I glared ahead of us and saw it. The Gasman was standing, arms crossed, on the very top of a spruce tree.

"Maaaaax... uh..." his smirk was still so uncomfortable. Now I knew why. "... well."

* * *

I nodded and gulped. The closer we got, the easier it was to see the look on his face.

Suspicion. A little anger. Cuteness. Frustration.

_Crap. He knows... crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. FOUR-LETTER-WORD._

"GAZZY!" I yelled soothingly to him.

"_Gazzy_ what?" he mimicked when we flew down below him, landing on the ground where I had face-planted last night. Oh. He was glaring. Good touch.

"Is everyone else awake?" I asked casually, trying to play this off. I really was hoping he wasn't angry. I said a quick prayer to every god I could think of, hoping Angel hadn't told him what we were doing.

"Yes. We heard you leaving _two hours ago."_

That was Nudge that time, she was leaned against a tree besides Iggy, who was sitting on the ground, playing with a lighter he had found. Blind kid... pyromaniac. Right. Angel sat on a fallen tree about twenty feet away, playing with Celeste. She looked at me with calm, wise eyes. She hadn't told anyone, but she knew.

_On the bright side._

That was the voice. _SHUT UP. _I screamed inside my head. It heard me, and didn't speak again. Jerk.

"Where were you two?" Nudge demanded, walking towards us, her tawny wings hidden under her wind-breaker. It was cold this morning. "Why did you leave? Angel kept saying we shouldn't follow you, that Max kept thinking that! WHY?! Are we in danger or something?"

Nudge had never gotten mad at me before, but there she was. Eyebrows furrowed together in frustration, her little fists clenched- great for punching. She was the perfect image of an angry mutant bird-kid. Gazzy flew down behind her and landed with a thud, but he was quick to glare at us too.

Iggy sat over by the tree, bored. Hungry, probably. We needed food.

_Stop thinking about breakfast and focus. You've got a possible mutiny on your hands, Maximum. _

Screw you very much, voice.

"Look... well... I don't know how to explain this but..." Should I tell them? Ah. What would happen? I looked at Fang. He was uncomfortable, but not about to help me out. He had an plan-of-action inside his head, I could tell, but he wasn't about to do it, I could tell that, too. I looked tiredly at Angel, who was watching me now. Suddenly, she smiled and jumped up from the log.

"They were kissing."

* * *

Every set of eyes shot to Angel. They stared at her in disbelief. Seconds went by.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Four-letter-word.

I was about to die from awkwardness. And embarrassment. That too. Definitely. Fang was blushing. I couldn't laugh, not then... too awkward.

_You'd think._

Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy all burst out laughing. Iggy doubled-over in a fit of wheezes. Nudge fell to the ground, holding her stomach, giggling at high-pitched, super-intense speeds. Gazzy snorted. A lot.

And they laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Until Angel and I were giggling, too.

But not Fang. He was blushing. A lot.

Iggy was the first to pull it together and managed to choke out "You're kidding, aren't you, Angel? Angel?"

"No."

More laughter.

"OHMYGOD! I KNEW IT! I knew those two were doing that! OHMYGAWD," Nudge was on her knees holding her stomach. I heard her mumble "Oh god, this hurts!" then laugh more.

"YOU TWO WERE REALLY OUT KISSING? FOR TWO-HOURS?" Gazzy screeched with laughter.

It had been three minutes since Angel said "They were kissing."

Finally, the laughter died-down. And with it, my pride.

Oh crap. Crap. This was so weird. Fang decided to speak up and when he did, he took my hand absent-mindedly. My face flushed and his lost all color. "Ok... we were doing that."

Good. A confession they already knew. Way to go. 3...2...1.

More laughter.

"Stop it guys! COME ON," I yelled. My voice instantly pulled everyone together and the laughing ended. But they weren't about to stop COMPLETELY.

"So is he a good kisser Max?" Nudge asked, with- I think this is what scared me the most- real interest.

"What?" I blushed.

"Yeah- how'd you do, Fang?" Iggy said, smirking. Fang blushed instantly, and I saw him half-smile. No doubt about it. He'd be telling Iggy later.

"What did you DO exactly?" Gazzy joined in, and this two-sided comment set the boys laughing. Nudge stared in horror and Angel tilted her head, confused. Sexist pigs.

Fang's hand tightened around mine a little more and I saw Angel's eyes meet his. They gaped at each other for a few seconds. Suddenly, Angel reeled back in terror. "EW!"

I looked at Fang. "Whatdidyouthink?"

He gawked at me awkwardly. "Let's just go get breakfast."

* * *

What is it that makes endless pancakes for 5.99 so amazing?

The fact that they're endless.

Poor I-HOP. They never saw us coming.

My flock and I swooped down on the restaurant at about nine in the morning. We hurried into a booth by the exit and an easily breakable window and possible escape route through the kitchen before our slightly confused waitress walked up. Her hair was a soft brown, almost red, pulled up into a loose pony-tail. She was cute. From five feet and eight inches away I could see the perfect blue of her eyes. I'm guessing Fang could too.

"What would you like to order?" she asked, faking enthusiasm to cover her nervousness and frustration that she hadn't seated us herself.

"Are the endless pancakes really endless?" Nudge nudged me.

"I think so. Let me ask- are the endless pancakes really endless?" I asked the waitress. She smiled and laughed a little.

"Yes, of course. Would you like that?" blue-eyes titled her head and practically stabbed her ticket-book with her pen. She was nervous, not angry- still, no excuse to torture her paper. Bluey kept giving Iggy quick side-glances, pulling off her best cute attempt. Of course, he couldn't see her.

Hah. He just stared straight ahead of him. I'd have to tell him this later.

"Yes, thankyou," Nudge replied happily.

"I'd like that too," it was Fang.

"Same here." Iggy.

"Likewise." Gazzy.

"Endless pancakes, please, thank you." Angel. Such good manners.

"R-right... okay... thank you..." Blue-eyes walked off, still slightly confused.

"You think she knows what she just got into?" Fang asked leaning towards me to whisper in my ear. His thigh was touching mine. He was so warm.

_Control yourself Max._

"HAH. No!" I said a little too loudly. Well... just really loudly. Every head in the restaurant swiveled in our direction like something straight out of _the Exorcist._

_Right. Control._

* * *

20 orders of pancakes later and after polishing off two whole bottles of syrup, we paid the check and flew the coop.

I was stuffed like a turkey. Oh no. Poor bird.

So, as I said, we left I-HOP and the waitress who didn't know Iggy was blind behind and headed nowhere in particular. My internal sense of direction practically screamed HEAD SOUTH-EAST. And I did. Why not?

I steered my flock through the skies over West Virginia and Virginia and by that evening, we had crossed the border into North Carolina. I had been aware of Fang the entire ride. He was staring again, I could tell. Only this time, it didn't bring me any stress. I felt comfortable with it, but at the same time- really excited. I liked the way he looked at me, like I was some mystery to be found out.

It was more thrilling than free-fall.

When we did break the border, the voice popped into my head again.

_Maximum. Did you know there was an Itex branch in North Carolina?_

The voice caught me off-guard. _No... why? _

_Well, maybe you'd like to visit it before stopping for the night._

_What's there that you want me to see? Is it a trap? _

This was weird. I could tell.

_No, Maximum. Honestly, this is part of your new mission. I need you to find someone for me, Max._

What? What was the voice talking about? Find who? This must be a trap. _Find who?_

_He's an experiment, just like you._

The little red flag you feel being raised inside your mind when you know something strange is up? Yeah. That little red flag inside my head just whacked me in the face.

Another experiment. Was that possible? Well, yeah. It had to be. There were experiments in New York and where the School was. _Is this another... School?_

_Yes, Max. Just not as many students as you'd think. Only three students, actually. And they are all very good pupils._

_Enough with the creepy analogies, okay? Who are they? Is this a trap? You have to be kidding. _My heart was pounding. More experiments. How many lives had to be ruined in the name of science? Was this a joke? It couldn't be- the voice is barely capable of sarcasm- but jokes? Out of the question.

_I want you to find them Maximum. Try around Harker's Island- you'll find it there. The Itex facility is located underground on one of the uninhabited smaller islands in the Back Sound. Look for it, Max. Use your head._

_Right... this isn't a joke, is it?_

_No, Max. The students you'll find there will be very important to the future of your mission._

_But- _the voice's presence was gone. I flew on quietly while my flock glided gently through the air behind and around me. My heart was pounding so hard. This was really starting again. A new mission. Experiments. Important to our mission... Suddenly Fang touched me with his feathers. I looked up to see him flying over my head like he usually would when he needed my attention.

He knew something was up. His face betrayed no emotion, but his eyes- those dark chocolate eyes- were worried... and intrigued. The thumping in my chest, ears, and head got louder- I was going to die from a heart attack.

"You need to rest." It wasn't a suggestion, so I nodded and we all flew down below, into a forest on foothills. Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy all sat down immediately, sighing. They weren't about to show how tired they really were by complaining, my tough little birds.

Iggy threw me an energy bar which I polished off without hesitation. Eventually, everyone settled by trees and talked.

"Where are we going tomorrow Max?" the Gasman asked me, munching his energy bar in two.

"Well... I have a plan." I said, smiling comfortably. I was freaking NERVOUS about what we were going to do and about where Harker's Island was. We'd have to get a map somehow.

"I think we should have eggs tomorrow. Pancakes were awesome today, but I really want some eggs now. Eggs and toast. And more eggs," Nudge chirped, knocking her feet together while she sat, legs out, on the ground.

"Yeah, that'd be fine, Nudge. We need to find a map tomorrow though," I said, glancing at Fang. He was watching me, studying me. His eyes flickered at the mention of a map.

"What for?" he asked, sitting down next to me. Fang had been much more careful to position himself near me lately. He made sure I was beside him at breakfast. He flew next to me all day, and now he was only a few inches away from my back. I could feel his warmth through the air. I could smell him, too. He smelt like sky.

"Our mission has begun again."

I smiled and motioned to Iggy for another energy-bar. With an odd-look on his face, he tossed it to me. Everyone was staring, their eyes saying "What? Mission? Again? When? What, Max?"

But I was tired. So I flopped onto my back, stuffed the food down my throat, and went to sleep, their eyes still on me.

* * *

**Hope you liked that chapter!**

**More to come! I promise! Review if you can- they make me work better- AH! Speaking of work, it's ten and I have to be at work by 6 tomorrow... **

**REVIEWPLEASEANDTHANKYOU! BYE! HOPEYOUENJOYEDTHIS!**

**And remember- let's just pretend Total and Akila were there! I feel really stupid that I kept forgetting them- next chapter, I promise.**


	3. What the hell are we thinking?

**Hello! Thanks for clicking this! I'll thank you again if you read all of it and review.**

**Ok! First off, this picks up where the last chapter left off. Max has just gotten news of where she's supposed to go and who she's supposed to find- but not what she's supposed to do when she finds them. Which she will, of course. She's MAXIMUM RIDE, afterall. And this is fanfiction.**

**Secondly, I remembered Total and Akila! Yay! Oh, and lets not forget: I stuck in a more romantic scene to make up for the lacking of hormonal teenager angst in the last chapter. Any ideas on how/what I could/could do to improve those teenager love scenes? I figure we'll get to the sexier stuff eventually. Let's just save it until the REAL passion kicks in though, alright? I promise I'll make them get into it at some point.**

**And thirdly... any comments? Critisism? Praise? Glomps? Fanatic squeals? Just review and ask for me to reply and I will! Thanks for reading! I really hope you like the third chapter!**

**Oh, and there's a part in here from Fang's point of view. Enjoy.**

* * *

I was aware that I was dreaming. So what?

I refused to wake up, even after I was beginning to sense that someone was trying to do just that- wake me up.

In my dream, my wings were gone. That freaked me out a little, but what really did me in was realizing that I was underwater. Breathing. Like Angel could, except differently. I felt like a fish. A fast, intelligent fish. I swam deep below the surface- there was no light, but I knew my way around. I didn't need light to swim here. I was a fish in the water, just like a bird in the sky.

I was made for this.

"Max."

A deep, familiar voice broke through my little cocoon of sleep. It was Fang. He was crouched by my hip, shaking my shoulders quietly with his strong hands. I saw the soft glow of the moonlight illuminate the left side of his tan face. His black hair fell in front of those chocolate eyes, darker than the night sky itself. Oh wait.

It was still night... he was waking me up again.

_OHMYGOD._

I inwardly freaked for a second or two but calmed down when I realized what was going on. I'll admit it. The idea that he was waking me up for another midnight-moonlight-by-the-lake-side make-out session popped into my head the moment I noticed what was going on. But that thought quickly left my mind when I decided that's probably not what he was waking me up for.

_Awww, man. Oh. Did I just think that? NO! BAD MAX... but not really... focus._

I had just told everyone we were going to start another mission. Fang was craving answers; not physical contact/groping or touchy-feely talks, I was sure.

I sat up quickly and silently, arched an eyebrow and mouthed a silent "What is it?" He stared at me for a second, looking sort of lost, then quickly snapped back to reality. His lips read "we need to talk" and I silently obliged, taking care when I opened my huge wings, gave a soundless thrust into the sky, and took off into the air right above us. Fang followed me just as quietly.

We flew about half a mile away and pretty high up, so that we could see the rest of the flock if we looked hard, but so they couldn't hear us. Fang and I hovered in the air for a minute, looking at the moon which was unusually huge tonight. Eventually, the silence broke when he turned to me and said my least favorite word: "Talk."

_Crackers._

"Well... the voice told me we needed to head for a place somewhere..." I mumbled, trying to gather my thoughts. The sudden midnight-flight had woken me up pretty well, but I was still semi-unconscious. Right then, Fang's wing hit my primary feathers- the ones at the very tips- and I shivered. Right. Okay. Good. Awake. Max is awake.

_Wow. Fang- the human coffee._

"Talk more," he said without any trace of emotion, but I guessed he had noticed the sudden change that one touch had given me. The image of him mocking me slipped into my head.

**_You love me thiiiiiis much!_**

I could do without that right now.

"Okay," I sighed, and turned to look him full-on in those gorgeous dark eyes. I repressed the urge to swoon and fall out of the sky then went on. "The voice told me that there are other experiments in a facility near a place called 'Harkers Island'."

I waited for his reaction. When I got nothing but a stare, I widened my eyes at him and gaped, "WELL?"

"Go on," he said coolly.

"So apparently we need to go there and find the studen-" I couldn't say that word. It was such a creepy term to use. How did that slip into what I was saying..."-others and... it said there were more than one but he also said he... so we're looking for a man, I guess... well, it didn't say what to do after we found them," I didn't finish my thought. I guessed we were supposed to break them out, get them away from there, but having Fang make me recount the details made me realize something important: what WAS I supposed to do if I found the others?

"But I have a plan!" I added somewhat confidently.

"Right. So the little voice inside your head told you to chase after people when we don't know exactly where they are or who they are," Fang looked away again- something was bothering him. I was a little worried but then thought of something else. Fang was awesome at summarizing things. He could be the person who writes summaries on the insides of books, you know- gets to the point but doesn't reveal anything in particular. Like, for example, WHAT THE HECK I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO.

I frowned. "You think its a bad idea?"

"No."

"Ok... then are you for it or what?"

"I'll do what you say to Max," and he left it at that. I stared at him while he gazed off into the night. What was going inside that pretty head of his? What could I say?

"Fang..." is something wrong? That's what I wanted to say. So many things I wanted to say but what could I actually get to come out of my mouth? Nothing. That's what.

"Fang-" suddenly I couldn't say a word. Fang's arms were wrapped tight around me, folding my wings to my back, making it impossible for me to fly. "Fang!"

We were falling. I instantly panicked. We were falling! He couldn't keep us flying! I glared at him- what was he doing? Then I caught the look on his face. He was smiling.

I was panicked and confused and we were still falling- faster and faster- to the ground but Fang was smiling. Then it dawned on me.

Free-fall.

When we were learning how to fly, it was a game we'd play. Tackle someone on the down-swing of their wings when they hovered and you could pin them and make them fall. I remembered doing this to Gazzy twice, then Iggy (bad results- he freaked) the week we escaped the School. That was the best time of my life. We were tasting freedom for the first time, and let me tell you- nothing is sweeter.

I started laughing. Not the normal giggle or a full-blown laugh-your-ass-off kind of laugh but the senseless, uncontrollable sound you make when you're so unexpectedly happy you can't control it.

Fang's body was still pressed against mine when I opened my eyes to see him watching my face, smiling. He leaned in by my ear and spoke in a hushed whisper that made my skin crawl.

"You're so beautiful when you smile, Max."

_Oh. That was... wow._ I knew I was blushing and that my heart was pounding incredibly fast and that he could feel every thump with our chests pressed together in this embrace, but I didn't care. All I could see was Fang.

And his smile. And those eyes. And I felt his heartbeat, too.

Then he kissed me.

Electric. That's how I'd describe good kissing. And this was the stick-a-fork-in-a-power-socket kind of electricity. My hands tightened around the lean, muscular arms that I was unaware I had been clinging to when I felt his arm, the one around my waist, pull me closer and tighter to him. A perfect fit. I felt so alive, feeling his heartbeat, or my heartbeat... I have no idea.

Just as suddenly as everything had been happening lately, Fang broke away from me, just after he whispered "fly" into my ear. I pulled out my wings, feeling a little dizzy, and felt the wind tug full force on them. I steered away from the ground, which was only forty feet below me (way too risky, Fang- we could have been floor-paint) and looked up to see him making a tight circle in front of me.

Before I could flap my wings again, to really get going, Fang looped underneath me and behind me. As he passed parallel to my back, I felt his hand run up my left arm very, very lightly. I shivered again. I was becoming SUCH a girl. He finished his loop over my head and started to fly back to camp. I followed him, feeling like a giddy little schoolgirl, and when we reached camp, everyone was still asleep. Akila and Total were lying next to each other, near where we had made a fire earlier. So much for guard dogs.

Total must never know I said dogs.

Fang went back to where he had been sitting before I feel asleep and gave me a look that I understood instantly.

'You don't have to... but if you want to...' his face said.

So I walked over next to Fang, sat down behind him, and felt the warmth of his body seep into mine as I sat, back to back, with him. Fang was the boy- NAY- the MAN I had always considered to be my closest friend.

I was slowly giving into him.

That was the last thought I had before I let sleep consume me entirely- that and what I was going to do about our new mission.

In the end, I can never forget what I was genetically designed to do, no matter how happy I feel.

* * *

Yawn.

I woke up feeling really, really tired. I looked around and saw that it was morning. The sun hadn't risen yet but the sky was lighter, almost pink. Like a good, hard slap. Then I looked down on my lap and saw something that also felt like a good, hard slap. A slap right to my face that stung and said "WAKE UP IDIOT. LOOK AT THAT!"

Max's head was resting on my upper thigh.

_Hm. Would you look at that._

_..._

_LOOK AT THAT!_

Max's sleeping head was lying right on the thigh of my stretched out leg. My other leg was bent at the knee, kind of spread out but not really. Her arm was over that knee.

Naturally, I froze like a baby deer caught in the headlights.

After all, Max's head was on my thigh. How did she get there anyway? We had fallen asleep, back to back, after another incident where I couldn't keep my hormones under control. She was so beautiful when she slept. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen. The way her cheek curved and caught the light... the way her lips were perfectly half-parted... it was... a little... exciting? Tempting?

_Ah. Shut up, hormones._

But how did she GET THERE?

Alright. Thinking back, I remembered Max falling asleep before me... when her back slipped off of mine... and she was about to fall over and hit the ground... so I put my arm around her and positioned her head on my chest and my arms around her, so she wouldn't fall again.

_..._

_Good cover. Like anyone would buy that._

When I fell asleep, I must have let go of her and eventually we ended up in this position. I could handle that explanation. Even though I was embarrassed and, well, feeling kind of guilty for being this close to her without her knowing, it still felt natural being with Max.

I moved her, trying my best not to wake her up, and put her next to my shoulder. Max started to wake up anyway. She wasn't that light of a sleeper. Probably stressed, like usual. I wanted to take that stress away. I wanted to help her. She was my Max now.

I knew she was my Max, even if I wasn't sure I wanted to accept that. Max had said she felt that way about me, but sometimes I wasn't sure if I could believe her or if she believed that I loved her. She loved our flock a lot and wouldn't want to do anything to make life more difficult for us than it already was.

But on the bright side, there hadn't been any Eraser attacks for weeks. I was sure Erasers were gone, but I was still on my guard a lot of the time. Who knew what else was waiting for us?

Max's eyes opened and she looked around before moving entirely. She was always on her guard, too. The rest of the flock had started waking up when she did- it was like some unconscious biological clock we all shared. I watched her come around and saw that spark in her eyes, the one she always had, light up again. I looked at her with a little bit of sadness, like you would to something you really, really wanted- pretty much needed- but weren't sure you'd ever have.

But you loved it anyway, didn't you?

* * *

When I finally came around and saw the rest of my flock doing the same, I realized I was leaning against Fang. A red, hot blush crept into my cheeks and I instantly jumped up, brushing myself off.

"Did everyone sleep okay?" I chirped, a little too loud for this hour.

"Owww. Max. Volume: turn it down," Iggy mumbled, getting off the ground and stretching his tall, lean body. His wings stretched behind him, his feathers rustled lightly.

"Uh-huh. What Iggy said..." Nudge sighed, opening her eyes and squinting around. "Is it even morning yet? Oh. Yeah, it is. Look, the sun's coming up- it just came through the trees behind you, Angel. Looks real pretty. Pinkish. Slap-like."

My darling Angel craned her neck backwards to look at the sun barely filtering through the trees. "Yep. Looks nice. Max?"

I was digging through my back-pack when she said my name and I looked up. "What is it, Angel?"

"Where are we going today?" for some reason, she looked at Fang for a second before she said this. Her face looked a little confused but then her big, blue eyes returned to their innocent cuteness.

"I thought we'd go find a map then fly somewhere."

"Harkers Island?"

"Uhm," I coughed a little. I wish she hadn't said that out loud! "Yes, honey. Harkers Island."

"Where the heck is that?" Total mumbled while he nuzzled Akila awake. She was already watching us with her head on her paws, bored as could be. "Oh honey! You're awake!"

"We're looking for other people? Ones like us?" Angel questioned. Everyone was listening to us. Iggy and Gazzy looked on, taking it in, ready with questions of their own. Nudge arched an eyebrow and listened just as intensely. She probably had the most questions. Fang, however, stood up quietly and put his hand on my arm. I blushed momentarily but remembered I was supposed to answer Angel. Then his hand was gone.

"Yes, Angel, sweetie. Like us."

"WHOA! REALLY?" Gazzy gaped at me and I smiled weakly with a shrug. He exploded into laughter. "NO WAY. Like us, like us? Or like us, like us?"

"Does it matter?" Iggy mumbled and hit Gazzy on the head. "Blond."

"I KNOW MY OWN HAIR-COLOR YOU FREAKING LABELING MACHINE!" Gasman screeched and spun around on Iggy while he laughed.

"No yelling at the blind-kid."

"QUIT IT!"

"I said-"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID."

"SHUT YOUR FACE, GAZZY!" that was Nudge. Good old Nudge. "So they're like us, Max?"

"Experiments, yeah. But I don't know what kind or who they are exactly. The voice said we need to find an underground facility and then find them somehow- probably a break in," I felt the ripple of excitement in the air at that word. Yay! Crimes! Oh well- what they were doing to animals and babies justified us committing a few crimes to stop it.

"One's a man, I think," I sighed, explaining my directions to my flock who processed everything I had just said at hyper-speed. Fang knew this all already, of course. Him and Angel.

"Then what?" Nudge tilted her head, smiling at the thought of people like us.

"I have a plan."

She frowned. Angel giggled. Iggy groaned. Gazzy pouted. Total and Akila sighed, bored. Fang looked at me. I noticed something in his eyes that made my heart leap with excitement, then it made me smile in the confident, kick-ass way I did best.

I'd figure something out. But first: a map. And breakfast...

**Ok! Not as much has happened as I would have liked to put, but I think this was a respectable length and figure you can wait until the next chapter for the real action.**

**As you can see, Max's love-life is starting to take a bit of a back-seat to her mission. But Fang? He's more stuck on Max than ever. **

**Will something happen between Max and Fang? Will that damn voice talk again at some point? Will they get to Harker's Island (which you should google, btw, to get an idea of where it is and looks like. IMAGERY PEOPLE!!)? Who are these "other experiments"? Will I ever stop having Angel read Fang's mind when he's thinking semi-dirty-about-to-get-dirtier thoughts? Where the hell am I going with this? **

**Wait and see! I will answer like... one... two... three... yeah, three of those questions! Which I only have like four real questions, since the rest have an obvious answer! No I will not stop the dirty mind-reading! And yes! I am going somewhere with this! Trust me!**

**Ok, that's enough of that. I'm annoying myself, too. Hope you enjoyed this! Reviews would be so amazing. Just... wow. Amazing. Thank you!**


	4. Welcome to Harkers

**Mucho, mucho, mucho gracias to everyone who reviewed and is still reading my story!**

**Well, to put it lightly, I hope you don't finish this chapter and be like "... what the hell is going on? This is getting weird." because A) you need to trust me. And B) I know its weird, but I kinda left a cliff-hanger, k? Just keep breathing, little buddies.**

**OH. And any ideas for a one-shot or short story? Any? I'd like to hear them! Keep reviewing you awesome, awesome people!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Once again, we harassed I-HOP for breakfast.

Three consecutive rounds of breakfast.

After seating us, the poor little waitress (a dyed-brunette this time, with short hair and muddy, green eyes.) took our orders and left. When she came back with our food, we ordered again. Then after that, one more round. Finally, we were done. I paid the tab, and left a tip for the girl who was, by that time, extremely confused and panic-ridden.

Anyway. On our way out, Nudge gasped and pointed to a display case full of little pamphlets. "Does that one say 'Harkers Island Ferry'? Or is it just me?"

I looked to where she was pointing and, big shock-er, Nudgie was right on. Below a pamphlet advertising pollution prevention clinics, there was a blue piece of paper with the words "Harkers Island Ferry" written on it. I smiled. Way to go, Nudge. "Yep. Looks like it."

"Nice call, Nudge," Gazzy handed me one then took another for himself.

"Oh, let me see," Iggy said reaching for Gazzy's paper. Get it?

I studied the front and back and found a small list of just-vague-enough directions on how to get to the island itself. Apparently, we weren't so far away. We were on the northern chain of islands of North Carolina, at a place called "Duck". From flying really high, you could see the Atlantic Ocean on the east. It was beautiful.

"Alright, flock. Looks like we know how to get there," I quietly, memorizing the directions in my head. "Basically, we're just going to head south along the island chain."

"Works for me," Fang mumbled, zipping up his black jacket. My eyes drifted to the nape of his neck where, when he turned his head, the skin pulled tight over the muscles just beneath the surface. I blushed and turned away very quickly, before he could notice.

_Oh my god. What is wrong with me? Focus, Max!_

I shook my head briefly and tucked the paper into my pocket. "Right. Ok, let's go."

* * *

I lead the flock south for about an hour and around noon, we arrived at the town where the paper said the ferry was. I had been studying a map of the area for a few minutes and had the geography memorized pretty well. We just had to head slightly south-west and we'd be able to find Harkers Island from the air. Then we'd just have to look around for small uninhabited islands in the Back Sound, which was labeled on the map. Simple enough. I had gone to the back of the store to look for water bottles, when the Gasman spoke up.

"Max, what are we doing now?" we were inside a gas station thrift shop. Iggy and Fang were loading up on chips and energy bars ("This one's green... that's yellow... oh, here's the green kind I like." "Way to go, Ig.") while Gazzy and Angel walked with me. Nudge was browsing the bumper stickers. Total and Akila were sitting in the back near an air conditioner.

"We're getting drinks. Pick one," I said nodding towards the rows of bottled stuff. Angel immediately picked a bottle of water and Gazzy pulled out a soda.

"But what are we doing next?" He said looking up at me with his big blue eyes. Angel came up behind him and held onto his shirt. She looked tired already. I glanced around the store and saw Nudge moving on to souvenirs and Iggy paying at the cash register. Fang stood behind him, watching the cashier to make sure he didn't stiff the blind-kid. His hands were in his pockets, his head tilted a little down and to the side, eyes on the food. From this angle and distance, he looked very intimidating... sexy, even. I heard a slight giggle and my stare shot to Angel. She smiled at me.

_Oh no. She heard that._

I resisted my blush and coughed a little, remembering Gazzy's question. "Well, um, we're going to fly to Harkers Island and go looking for signs of the facility right away. If we find it, we'll regroup and break in tonight hopefully. Well, early tomorrow hopefully. It's easier to get in somewhere at night because-"

"-there's less security," Angel smiled, finishing my sentence. She looked over and saw Nudge coming up.

"Max, we're going to ride the ferry, right? Right? Oh, I've never even been on one! I didn't even know what they were until Fang explained it to me on the flight here. This is gonna be so much fun! I can't wait- I wonder if we'll see dolphins or anything... the pamphlet said dolphins went through the area. Oh, that would be fantabuawesome!" She giggled, and so did Angel while she watched Nudge use her hands to illustrate everything she had just said.

"Nudgie, I don't..." want to waste more time than necessary riding on a stupid ferry. Flying was so much easier! And faster. But Nudge obviously had her heart set on riding one and, after glancing at Angel and Gazzy's faces, they liked the idea to. I sighed and put on my best smile. "... think we'll see any dolphins, but you keep your eyes open for me. Let's get going. Total! Get Akila away from the tourist and come on!"

"Fine, fine. Come on, beautiful," Total mumbled, using his doggie-ness to lead her away from the poor tourist who had stopped, mid-bite on a hoagie, to stare at the big, furry dog and the talking dog. He blinked then shook his head.

Ha-ha.

After we left the store, Fang grabbed my sleeve and smiled at me. "You look stressed. We're taking the ferry, aren't we?"

"I'm not stressed."

"You're pouting. So we're taking the ferry?"

"Yep," I smiled slightly and sighed. I hated wasting time. Fang patted me gently on the back and gave a quick, quiet, rare laugh. My stomach flipped and my heart leaped again. That was the most thrilling sound.

Even after his hand moved away, I still felt the warmth of it.

And everyone was smiling. Maybe the ferry was an okay idea.

* * *

Ok.

Ferry ride equals bad idea.

I got sea-sickness.

It was really ironic because on the boat-ride to the land of Penguins and freezing cold, I was just fine. But for some reason, my stomach got queasy and, after ten minutes, I found myself leaning over the edge of the boat, chucking everything I had eaten that day.

Despite smelling like puke and feeling like complete crap, Fang had held my hair while I threw up and didn't leave my side once. Even after I insisted/demanded he go keep an eye on the rest of the flock who were out looking at the scenery while I sat down in the cabin.

"Nope, not leaving," was the phrase he kept repeating every time I started to suggest he go and watch everyone. I smiled, despite feeling like I could hack up my guts any second.

"You're really stubborn, you know?" I said, lying down completely on the couch. He sat on the end by my head and rolled his eyes.

"You're more stubborn."

"Not really," I sighed, feeling oddly sleepy. It was probably the alka-seltzer a woman had given me when I insisted I was fine. I looked at Fang. He was staring at me. I noticed the look in his eyes, like an idea or memory was crossing through his mind and he was debating it. Then he smirked at me.

"You're pale and shaking. Come here," he lifted the back of my head and my shoulders and moved me over to him. When he put me back down (I was too exhausted and sick to object that I move in the first place) my head was on his lap. I blushed fiercely and I noticed that his cheeks were a little less tan than usual. More pinkish.

Fang's lap was warm though, so I didn't object. Within a minute or two, I was soundly asleep, rocked by the motion of the boat and soothed by the humming coming from Fang's throat. I recognized the song he was humming, he loved music, and it made me feel very safe.

* * *

"Max, wake up. We're almost there."

Angel's voice woke me. I noticed that Fang was gone. He had laid me back down and left without waking me up. A pillow was under my head..

"How was your nap, Sleeping Beauty?" Iggy asked, standing by the doorway with Nudge. She looked positively thrilled.

"THERE WERE DOLPHINS!" She squealed and laughed like crazy.

"Awesome, Nudge. Where are Fang and Gazzy?" I looked around the cabin. Nope, they weren't there.

"They're out on the deck. They overheard someone talking about building materials being shipped onto one of the uninhabited islands and Fang started eavesdropping," Iggy said, opening the door to let someone in. Gazzy walked through the door, beaming.

"Max! We know where the place thing is!" he told me, smiling. Fang came in after him, closing the door promptly behind him. He had on his poker-face, but when his eyes met mine, they flashed with the unmistakable look of success. Angel suddenly arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really! The guy out there started talking about developing this one island, then Fang and me listened in and we heard him say something about a lab. Then he said 'I think it started with an i or something.' That has to be it!" He laughed and elbowed Iggy. Iggy winced and biffed him on the head, a little too hard. Gazzy rubbed it and glared at him. Boys.

"So we know where it is?" I asked, a little excited now. That was easy. I didn't even have to work for an answer.

"Yeah. The man said we could see the island from the air. He's a pilot," Fang added, flopping down on a chair. I smiled. That's convenient.

"This is great! We can go tonight!" I laughed and ran everything threw my mind while the flock chatted. We could see the island from the air. Building material was probably on it still, which would be a dead-giveaway. All we had to do was break-in and find the experiments the voice had mentioned. Easy.

-_Max. Don't get so confident._

_Finally. Where have you been? And what am I supposed to do when I find these people?_

_-What would you do? They're important to your mission. What's the logical plan of action?_

I winced a little and realized that was obvious. I had been complicating things again. _Break them out._

_-Very good, Max. Do you want my advice?_

_No._

_-Get in, get out. Be as quiet as possible. Now, why would you want to be extra careful?_

_... because... it's an underground lab. We can't-_

-_You can't fly out. That's important, Max. You can't escape through the air. You have to get in, and get out without anyone knowing._

_I can do it._

_-I hope so._

_But who are these peop_- I stopped in the middle of my sentence. The voice was gone, I could feel it. I sighed loudly, which caught Fang's attention. He gave me a puzzled look and I rolled my eyes. He guessed what was going on and silently mouthed, "tell me later." I nodded and heard a whistle outside. The ferry had arrived. We all stood up and headed out. I was feeling better but the moment my feet hit land and the realization of the danger ahead of us punched me in the face, I didn't feel so safe anymore.

* * *

All I knew I could do for Max was try to make her feel safe. To be there when she needed me, even if she wouldn't admit it.

I was doing my best, but Max is hard to keep out of trouble. The whole avian-hybrid thing just made things more complicated.

I held her hair back while she hurled on the ferry. I stayed with her in the cabin. I convinced myself putting her head on my lap would relax her, even if all I wanted was to feel her close to me again. And during that boat-ride, I knew she felt safe.

Until that damn voice popped into her head and gave her more reason to doubt what we were going to do. It was two in the morning and Max had just woken everyone up. We devoured our energy bars and spread our wings to fly.

Earlier, in the afternoon, Max and Angel had flown out to find the island where the facility was supposed to be. What the man had on the ferry said seemed pretty trustable and consistent. They had come back, saying they had found the island and we'd be going to perform a breaking-and-entry tonight. I was all for it. Max made it seem like she was confident, too, but I could tell by the way she constantly looked off into the distance and brooded that she had her doubts.

She had told me what the voice had said at dinner. "Be cautious. Get in, get out" was the gist of it. Okay. Simple enough. But Max was complicating things, getting worried over something she knew we could handle.

_She does that with a lot of things... like us..._

Us. There was obviously an "us" but with Max over-thinking things and me worrying about what those "things" were, I didn't know what was going on.

And I was okay with that every time I looked at her beautiful brown eyes and heard her laugh. I couldn't stop thinking about her. Ever since that night at the lake, she was always on my mind. I'd just look at her and feel something hit me deep in my stomach.

_Like a really hard punch. A good punch._

At two in the morning, I watched her when her wings spread, the speckles of black over the white bottoms of her feathers shaking from the movement. She tilted her head towards the black sky and flapped her wings once, hard, and touched off the ground. Her hair was pulled back and a loose lock broke free from it and fell in front of her eyes as she looked back at the rest of the flock with a concealed but fierce protection. Her eyes connected with mine and I felt the flood of incredible energy of the girl behind those pretty eyes jerk me back to reality.

I took off after her. I knew there was no reason to even doubt it: I was never leaving Max's side.

* * *

We were at the Island in five minutes. We landed quietly on top of a small building reading "Atlantic Inland Research Center".

That was total crap. "Morally Wrong Center of Perverse Violations of Nature" would be a better name. Oh. Speaking of Total, I forced him to stay back with Akila. He growled at me.

The lights inside we off except for a flood light at the back, over a very large door. I jumped off the roof and Iggy came after me, grabbing onto the back of my shirt. He came with me incase I need him to pick the lock. The flock stayed on the roof, waiting for my signal.

Iggy and I went to a side door where there appeared to be no cameras and I checked it. An electronic key-pad kept it locked. I whistled once in a very low pitch and Nudge came over in a few seconds. She put her hand on the lock and closed her eyes. In less time than it took for her to come over, she had the door unlocked, smiling. "Nice job, Nudgie."

Iggy sighed. "I never get to do that anymore."

I signaled for the rest of the flock to come down and we went inside the building silently. I went over to the double-door illuminated by the light and pulled once on it. Locked. By an actual lock!

"Iggy? Guess what."

"Yessss!" he picked the thing in a minute. I smiled, proud of my flock.

_So far, so good, not dead._

We opened the doors and went down a long, dark staircase. At the bottom, the double-doors were unlocked. I cracked it open an inch and looked around the best I could. I saw a single white hallway like a hospital's. This had to be it.

_I hate these places. Soooooo much._

Iggy stayed behind, listening for any sound or vibrations. I brought Angel, Nudge, and Fang with me. Gazzy went back upstairs, determined to be the look-out. We headed down the hallway, passing various rooms. Most of them were just offices but two or three of them had test-tubes and racks of bottles, drugs, and records inside.

The place was empty, except for one room. I heard five different voices and cracked the door open a little more, on high-alert. I saw lots of glass windows stacked over each other. On the other side of the doors was blackness. Then I heard a woman give what sounded like an order, and a faint light cut on.

They were aquariums. Full of very large fish or things that might have been fish.

Some had human eyes. Some had the bodies of babies, but with scales. They were all in aquariums.

_That's a new level on the creepy scale._

So the Schools had gotten bored with mammals and had moved onto ocean creatures? I wondered why someone would do things like this. This just had to stop. It was so wrong! I wanted to throw open the doors, run inside, and punch out every single bastard in there.

I suppressed my anger and moved myself to see better. There was the wall of aquariums and then there were cages. All empty. That was about everything in the room, other than four cases worth of files and cabinets. Then I saw three men standing over a cage, looking inside. I couldn't see what they were looking at, and I didn't want to know. I saw a woman come behind them holding a syringe. She moved them out of the way and reached down to pick something up. All I saw was an arm attached to a body covered in scales before I closed the door and moved on in silence. Fang reached for my hand and I was glad to let him take it.

The next room was locked. The next two were as well. At the end of the hallway, there was an unlocked door. I heard footsteps coming. I cussed silently and pulled everyone inside. Fang closed the door behind me. I looked at Angel. She was shaking and her eyes were red with tears she wasn't crying. I forgot she could hear everything.

My heart practically stopped beating and I leaned down to hug her tightly. Nudge hugged her too, whispering "Shhh, Angel, its gonna be alright." She was being as quiet as possible, but one sharp, loud sobbing breath escaped her little chest. I pulled her tighter and Fang stroked her hair.

Then I heard a noise behind us. Water sloshing, then the sound of rustling fabric on a tile floor. I spun around and looked dead ahead. There was a small hallway and on the end of it, to the right, was a open door leading to a room where a soft glow of light came from. Angel tensed up under my arms and I was suddenly terrified. Someone had heard us. There was someone in there.

Worst of all, I felt scared. Helpless.

Then Fang took my hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed it softly and I felt the blood rush to my face. I forgot about everything for the brief two seconds his lips were on my skin and I felt safe. And I wanted to kiss those lips for making me feel like that. He nodded and let me go. I turned around and walked to the end of the hallway. Before I turned the corner to look inside the room, I looked over at Fang, who was standing besides me with a protective stare, and felt my heart leap.

_I couldn't do this without him._

I turned the corner and jumped in front of the doorway, wings spread, with a glare on my face. What I saw inside wasn't what I was expecting.

The room was large and had a tall ceiling. There was a wall of glass in the middle, about 8 feet high. Behind the glass was a small pool with a slab of concrete at the front, by the wall. But get this. Sitting on the glass-slab were three people.

Two girls, one who looked a little older than me and one my age, and a boy around the first girl's age, too. They were pale, practically white, and all had large, black pupils with a thin iris of crystal blue. The older girl had very long white, barely blonde hair that touched the floor she was sitting, cross-legged, on. The boy my age had shoulder-length, stick-straight darker blond hair and a very violent, red scar down his jaw. The other girl, who was standing up now, dressed in a soaking wet sleeveless gown, hands on the glass, was bald.

But get this.

On their necks, beneath a layer of white scales stretching from their ears to their shoulders, were gills.

* * *

**Hope that wasn't TOO weird. Let's think about this though: the whole avian-hybrid idea is a pretty smart one. Explore the skies, right? Well, what else is there left to explore on this planet? _The ocean. _So fish-hybrids seems smart, too, doesn't it?**

**I've been thinking alot about where I'm going with this, and I already have a really good idea set in my head. Geesh, this is like a book. Oh well! I'm having fun writing this!**

**Alrighty. Hope you read the next chapter! I want you to LOVE this, so leave some reviews with encouragement or advice! Thank you so much!**


	5. Is it weird in here or is it just me?

**Yay! Done with the fifth chapter! And I only posted the fourth chapter _yesterday! _This is getting ridiculous, but what else can I do? My friends are all on vacation so I have no one to hang out with, practice is in the evening, and my parents are gone all day! I have way too much free-time.**

**For the twentieth time, THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING. I love to hear what people think about my work! I can't emphasize this enough, but it really is awesome to hear what you all have to say and it makes me write faster (which may or may not be a good thing, at this rate). **

**Alright, in this chapter, you'll get to know a little more about the fish-faces. And a lot about one of them who, oddly enough, has the same name as one of my reviewers. It was a coincidence, really, since I planned on using the name before I realized someone had it. I hope this turns out to be a pleasant suprise for you!!**

**Thanks a million bunches of whatever for reading and reviewing and being awesome! Enjoy!**

* * *

_O__h my god. Fish people._

I blinked once. Twice. Thrice. "Whoa."

"Nice to meet you, too."

_The boy spoke to me! Holy shi-_

"Ish?" the thin, small-faced girl with her hands on the glass tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Ish."

"Max...?" Fang put his hand on my shoulder and I slowly pulled my wings in and relaxed. Time to think this through.

_Right. Ok. We're in an underground I-Tex facility probably about twenty feet under the ocean. Gasman and Iggy are upstairs and Nudge, Angel, and Fang are all with me. We are now staring at three people with gills hidden in a back room behind an 8-foot wall of plexi-glass. Two of them just spoke to us. One seems sarcastic. The other says 'ish.' _

Were these the experiments the voice had me come here for?

"I think this is them," Angel said, tapping me on the back, answering my thoughts. "I think these are the people we're supposed to bring with us."

Well, ok. I'm starting to think that, too. The voice said "pupils" then he mentioned more specifically a "he". There were three fish-mutants right in front of my face. Two were girls. One was a boy.

_... that fits pretty well. Time to go._

"So who are you guys? Nice wings, by the way. I think you noticed the scales by now," the boy said, sighing a little. He was sitting with his back against the wall of the room and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling then sighed again.

"Uhm..." Nudge mumbled, looking at me for guidance. What the hell was I supposed to do? Oh yeah. Get them out. Alright, that seemed like a good plan of action.

"Right. Uh, we're..." bird-freaks. "... a lot like you, obviously, just with wings, not scales and gills..." and we're here to break you out of this freak-show. "... and we're getting you out of here," I replied, smiling a little awkwardly. Angel giggled, you could guess why. This was starting to feel like the first day of... school. Awkward to the extreme and sort of creepy.

"Oh," the blonde-haired girl uttered, raising her brow (which lacked hair). "Why?"

"Er..." I mumbled, then threw out the best answer I could. It's not like I could say 'a voice in my head said to come find you.' I wouldn't go with me after hearing that. "Do you really want to stay here?"

The boy got to his feet, stretched, and I noticed that there were more scales on his feet and calves. Another layer covered his pale forearms. Except for his head, he was completely hairless. "I'm game."

The girl sighed, then stood up besides him. She was slightly shorter, but not by much. "Same here. Eve, come on, sweetie."

Blondie took 'Eve's' hand. She was still staring at us behind the glass. Her other hand fell to her side and I noticed how thin that arm was. Eve had an intelligent look behind her eyes and appeared to be my age, but the way she moved made her seem child-like.

"How do you plan to get us out?" the boy asked, moving to stand besides the girls. They all looked a little alike, but definitely couldn't be related. They all had the same huge, round crystal eyes though.

I hadn't thought about getting them out. Shoot.

"Nudge? Can you open this?" Fang was staring at something when he said it and for the first time, I noticed a keypad over a ridge in the glass. It was a door and a lock. This was getting too easy. Whenever things seemed good, they'd usually get worse. I winced.

"Yeah, I can get it..." Nudge breathed and put her hand on the buttons. After about twenty seconds, she tapped in ten digits and pulled the keypad. The door came with it, sliding open.

That's when the worst happen. A buzzing alarm went off.

I went into fight-or-flight mode.

"Fang, you first! Nudge, Angel- follow him! You guys-" I screamed, jabbing my finger in their direction. I was a little annoyed that we were in danger now and, despite my better judgment, was just fine with blaming them. "-stop standing there and move your asses!"

Blondie looked offended, the guy laughed, and Eve did exactly like I said, no hesitation. The other two scrambled after her as quick as they could. I paused to see Blondie grab her hand with a familiar look of extreme protection on her face. They ran down the hallway and I brought up the rear, urging them to move, move, move.

The alarm was still ringing. I heard voices in the hallway outside.

We burst through the door and immediately I recognized the dark blur of Fang's wings when he was lunging for someone. He tackled a tall man probably in his thirties right in his side and knocked him to the ground within two-seconds. Within another two-seconds, his foot connected dead-center to another guy's chest.

_Wow. How sexy can you get? Ah! Focus, Max! Life or death situation! No time to be hormonal!_

There were fourteen bad guys and seven of us. We were really out-numbered. Too bad they were completely screwed.

Nudge was working on the woman who had the syringe back in the room. Nudge hovered off the ground for a moment, scaring the woman, and quickly whacked her with her tawny wings, pushing her off to the side. Iggy, who had came out of nowhere, was taking on another man who frantically tried to get his cell-phone open. I heard the man scream, but by then I was shoving the fish-people forward and past the chaos.

But Blondie wasn't with me anymore. I spun around, trying to find her through the commotion and saw a fast blur of long, almost white hair whip through the air. Blondie elbowed a man in the side with a sharp, hard, angry strength. I heard him stifle a scream as he tried to grab onto her somehow, but that wasn't going to work. The girl looked absolutely terrifying. Her face was wild as she jumped on his back and, I had to strain to listen, whispered between gritted teeth, "You deserve this for what you bastards did to us."

Then her hands were on either side of his head and with one quick, deliberate motion, she twisted it to the side. I heard a faint snap followed by a thump as he crumpled on the floor.

I stared at her in shock for a second too long. Our eyes met, and past the fury, I saw the cool look of regret starting to build. She ran towards me, dodging Fang's wings, then past me towards the staircase. I shook my head once and followed her.

Angel had taken out three of the guys already. She ran behind me, yelling for the rest of the flock to hurry up. We were at the staircase and up it in less than fifteen seconds. Gazzy was standing outside, completely oblivious to what was going on. The doors must have been sound-proof. He would have heard all of that. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the exit we had came in through and everyone followed behind me, feet hitting the tile hard, smacking and echoing as we broke out of the place we had broken into.

* * *

We ran and ran to the other end of the Island. I could hear the alarm still going off in the distance.

I wish we could have just taken off and flew but we _definitely _weren't able to pick up the fish-people. Running was our best bet. When we did get to the shore and were standing by the water, Nudge dropped down, panting. "Holy crap! That was INSANE."

"Agreed. Let's never, ever do that again, ok? Running on sand really makes your legs sore... ah..." Iggy sat down next to her, rubbing his calves. Angel leaned against Gazzy. They were both completely out of breath. Fang was standing besides me, his breathing already coming back to normal.

"How... are you... so energetic?" I gasped, smirking a little.

"Practice," was his reply. He smiled at me and I felt my heart fall into my stomach. I could never do anything without him. I took a deep inhale, filling my lungs full of precious, wonderful oxygen and looked over at the fish-people. I probably shouldn't be calling them that but I was only thinking it and I call my flock bird-freaks so...

_Mental shrug! Ha-ha!_

Blondie was sitting on the ground hugging Eve. Eve was breathing very hard. She kept mumbling "No, no, no, no, no..." and Blondie just hummed into her ear, pulling her closer.

"Just breathe, Eve, just breathe," the boy was sitting on the other side of her, stroking the girl's hand and telling her to breathe.

"It's alright, honey. We're out of there now, it's okay," Blondie whispered into her ear soothingly. I admired the way she was so protective of her, like a mother would be. I was like that too, I guess. Then I remembered she had killed a man and I had seen it. I bit my lip. I'd bring it up later.

"So," the boy said, turning to us. I decided he looked a little like Sam, the guy I had kissed when we went to the private school. Only much paler, blonder, and confident looking. His jaw was very defined, a lot like Fang's. I blushed. He was kind of cute.

_Why am I noticing this?!_

"Thanks for getting us out of there, but what are your names?" he asked, standing up and folding his arms over his chest. The blonde-girl watched him move, then her stare went back to the girl in her arms. Eve's breathing was coming back to normal.

"Uh, this is Angel, Nudge, the Gasman-" I pointed at them all in order. They waved and smiled when I said their names. "-that's I-"

"Ehhhhh, call me Ishmael," Iggy beamed, then laughed. Ishmael? Moby-dick? Ocean-themed? Is anyone getting this but me? The fish-kids raised eyebrows but didn't call him out. Guess not.

"He's Iggy," I mumbled. Iggy sighed and said something about 'fun-sucking' but I ignored it. "This is Fang and I'm Max."

Fang saluted and I stood there like an idiot. An awkward silence lasted for about five seconds.

"Cool, I'm guessing you're the leader," the boy said, smiling. I blushed a little- did I seem like a leader? _Ahhhh. Stop thinking, Max!_

"I'm ichthyoidal experiment number 3421BM," Blondie told us, straight-faced. I blinked. "The scientists named me Mary. You can call me that if you want."

She looked away and loosened up on Eve. "This is Eve."

"I'm experiment 3422JM. I liked the story of Jonah, so I go by that," Jonah sighed and looked past us, confused. "What's the blind-dude doing?"

_Oh, good. He figured out that Ig's blind... wait- _

I turned around and saw Iggy with his hands on the ground, feeling for vibrations. Of course I knew that, but to anyone else it probably looked a little weird. "They're coming. Maaaax, what are we gonna do?"

I pushed down the swell of panic I was feeling and tried to concentrate. We could fly, but we couldn't _possibly_ carry Mary, Jonah, and Eve.

"We can swim, you know. Hence the _gills,_" Jonah stated, helping Eve off the ground. "You fly. We'll swim under you."

Ok. That seemed like a good plan. Way to go, Fish-face. _Ah! STOP THAT._

"Right. Works for me," I pulled out my wings and flapped once, pushing myself into the air. The flock followed me, taking to the air like... fish to water... HAH. We were about thirty feet up when the fish-people jumped into the blackish sound. I guess they were following us still, I couldn't see them. Or maybe they were running away... crap. _Shoot. What happens then?_

"Max, come on!" Fang yelled to me. Everyone was already flying off towards the lights in the distance of Harkers Islander homes. I looked back to the water once.

I hoped they'd follow.

* * *

When we reached the shore of Harkers Island, which wasn't very far away- we were there in two minutes-, we all landed and waited for the other experiments to show up. I looked over at Max who was watching the water very intently, clearly nervous. I knew what she was thinking and I had the same thought. They were supposed to stay with us but what if they decided to leave?

_What happens next?_

But that was when the girl, Eve, stood up where the water reached her knees. She was probably about five-five. She walked up onto the shore, soaking wet, and her clothes (a thin white hospital gown) clung to her body. She was so thin I could see her ribs and collar bone through the gown.

Next out of the water, not too far behind, was the older girl, Mary. Her hair and clothes clung to her skin and this time I noticed something else.

_THEY'RE SEE-THROUGH! OH CRAP!_

I looked away really fast, blushing. I couldn't help myself, so I glanced back for seconds. Mary was staring at me. Her face was screaming "WHAT THE HELL?" I accidentally did a quick-sweep of her body, noticing that she wasn't as thin as the other girl. She had more muscle on her frame, healthy-looking but not skinny.

_Pretty hips... poor Iggy. He should see these curves._

I mentally slapped myself then looked over at Max again. She looked so relieved, those brown eyes glimmered with promise. I studied the sweep of her cheekbones and lips when she smiled. This was the girl I loved. She was the pretty one.

_But that doesn't mean you have to stop looking at girls who are nice-looking and notice that they're nice-looking. Come on. You're male. You all do it, even when you're in love. _

Ok, I knew that, but my brain had to remind me. I shook my head. Not the time.

Mary eyed me suspiciously, looked down and instantly folded her arms over her chest, but followed Eve up the shore towards us. The guy, Jonah, came out of the water next. I looked over and saw Max's eyebrows raise a little. He had wide, well-toned shoulders. My shoulders are smaller but just as toned and I have better-

_WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?_

I stopped comparing myself to him and went back to pretending like I was bored.

"Where are we?" Mary asked, sitting down on the ground and giving me a quick glare. I focused on Max who gaped at them.

"You don't know?" she replied, mouth open. She looked incredibly cute.

"No. They never showed us a map of the area. The scientists just made us do tests, watch television- the universal baby-sitter- and gave us books. They let us outside once each year but don't let us go near the shore, so we never saw much," Jonah answered like he was just asked what his least-favorite color was. Quick and to the point, with a little bit of boredom added.

"Oh... wow. The Schools are the same everywhere..." Nudge mumbled.

"School? Is that what you called where you were? They call ours 'the Aquarium.' It's pretty sick, but kind of true," Mary laughed, unknowingly bringing her hand up to touch her gills. Her neck was shorter than Max's, but just as thin.

"Mhm, that's what they called it. We got out about three years ago," Gazzy said while he messed with the cuff of his jeans.

I looked over at Max. She was watching Eve, thinking about something I couldn't guess. I touched her hand without anyone noticing and she glanced at me. I noticed the spark in her eyes. She seemed a little angry. Weighed down by a memory, no doubt about breaking out and the person who helped us do it.

_She thinks too much. _

"I'm not trying to be nosy or anything, but what's wrong with her?" Angel asked tilting her head to Eve. Eve looked up, blinked, then went back to playing with Mary's hair. Mary sighed, took Eve's hand away from her hair and held it tight. She was a lot like Max. Protective.

_She's a lot like Max... just not quite Max... right?_

* * *

"Eve's... complicated. They screwed her up. She used to be like us, but they decided to try to heighten her intelligence through this lacerate-and-go stupid operation they thought would do the trick. They screwed up, and screwed her up," Jonah mumbled, watching Eve. She was smiling. Even though she looked about our age, she was a lot like a child. Innocent and just very cute, sitting there smiling. Her big, round eyes took everything in, but made her seem more child-like.

"In the end, the part of her brain that they thought dealt with mathematical intellect was her speech center- it had changed for some reason. Eve can understand everything we say because she spoke English before they messed her up, but she can't talk to us. I think it's because there's too much going through her head," Mary spoke quietly, and I looked over at Fang who watched her face, thinking about something. I felt my heart leap a little. Something felt different. "But the scientists say it's because she lost the ability to form thoughts into words."

"I'm so sorry. That's terrible," Nudge said, practically crying. Iggy looked extremely tense. They had messed him up, too. He understood this better than any of us.

"Yeah. But they did end up getting her intelligence to improve... eventually- they even tried chemotherapy, then lost all her hair- it used to be brown. Eve's got an I.Q. of about two-hundred now and is really good at math," Jonah laughed, petting her head. She giggled and took his hand, placing it firmly on top of her hairless-head. It was incredibly cute, like watching Angel make an Eraser fall out of the sky by staring at it.

_Unnatural, but cute._

"Too bad she can't talk to us anymore. All she says now is 'good, no, yes, Mary, Jonah, and _ish_.'" Mary said, taking Jonah's hand off her head and putting Eve's hand back on her lap.

"_Ish_? What does that mean?" Fang asked. His voice made my heart flip again. His hand was still touching mine, alive and warm.

_Not now._

"I think it's her word for everything she doesn't know. She says it about once a week, so I always ask her what it means when she says it," Mary said. "The scientists said it was just gibberish, but I think it means something more important."

"How old are you?" Fang questioned. He was taking a real interest now.

"I look about sixteen, yeah? But I'm really around eleven," Mary smiled, a little too proud of it. I stared at her in shock.

"_ELEVEN?_" Nudge gasped. "Oh my god."

"I'm about that old, too. Eve's four years younger than us- she's only seven. Mary took care of her when she showed up," Jonah added and I suddenly felt very similar to Mary. She had taken care of someone in that sick-place just like I had.

_Only she was four at the time. Wow._

"And you're fourteen, Max. You, Fang, and Iggy are all fourteen, but you're the oldest, due for a birthday. Angel is six, the blond boy, her brother, is eight or nine now and Nudge is our age, right?" Mary said to me. I was even more shocked. _How did she __**know**__ that? _

"How do you-" I asked but was stopped by Mary, who put up a hand to silence me. I'd normally tell her off or punch her lights out for doing that, but I wanted to know.

"I've read the files about the avian-hybrid programs. I know a lot about you: blood types, ages, what species of birds they engineered you with," Mary had been looking only at Eve, touching the girls cheek, but then she looked up and stared me directly in the eyes. "I know all of that because, this is what they told us for the longest time, to keep us in our places or to annoy us- we were the back-up plan in case you failed."

* * *

**K-O! Hope you liked.**

**I left off with another cliff-hanger, didn't I? AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry about that, but I love to watch you squirm.**

**If you've ever seen the anime chobits, Chii is sort of like Eve. I watched it two days ago and was like "Chii is like my character! Or my character is like Chii! WHATEVER."**

**There are more plot-twists in store and I hope you read long enough to find out what they are!**

**_Thank you for being awesome! And for reading and reviewing too!_**


	6. Things of the Past

**_I felt like being different and decided to go with bold AND italics today. I'm a wild one._**

**_Oooook. So. Shorter chapter, mostly because I didn't feel like writing that much today. In fact, I didn't feel like writing much at all. I think I'm sorta burnt out on it, but just for maybe two or three days... two of my buddies are back from vacation so most of my time will be spent with them hopefully!_**

**_Even though this is a short chapter, it clears up a lot of things, gives you an idea of what the hell all of it means! Hahahahaha._**

**_Well, anyhoo, much thanks to all the reviews! They kick FACE. Like, serious face-kicks. Kicks TO THE face. Kicks in the face... you know._**

**_I didn't think I was going to finish a really big chapter today, so I wrote this to pull everyone through for a little while. Again, thanks for the reviews!_**

**_Enjoy!_**

_What the hell does that mean?_

"What the hell does that mean?" Iggy spoke up, rubbing the back of his neck.

It was probably close to three in the morning and the flock, myself, and three fish-hybrid escapees were sitting on the beach of Harkers Island, chatting about...

Well I'm not so sure now.

"Alright, it goes like this- and no stopping me until I'm finished," Jonah sighed and his eyes went blank, like he was going through a file in his memory, repeating everything written in it. "The ichthyoidal, which means 'fish-like', program was started about a year and a half after Max was made. She was the success of the avian-program, but then some weird sicko proposed the idea of creating fish-hybrids. The thought was 'if the birds can't fly and survive, let's go for the next best thing.' So, after failing with a lot of attempted ichthyoids, they finally got one to live past a month."

"He would have been my brother. I don't know if he had a name. He died of an anemic complication, at least that's what the files said," Mary mumbled, making patterns in the sand with her hands. Eve sat next to her, watching what she was doing with a child-like curiosity. Once, she'd look at Jonah like she remembered and knew what he was going to say next. I glanced around at the flock who were all listening very intensely.

They wanted to know it all. _They have to._

"But a few months after that, and a few more babies, Mary and I were created without any of the previous problems that the others showed. I lived past the goal-mark of forty-seven days, and then Mary did, too," Jonah kept talking but it felt like he wasn't there. I could hear the grim sarcasm in his voice and it made me want to fly back to that lab and take out a few people myself, just for kicks-and-giggles.

"When we were about three, they did a few tests that... they shouldn't have on a girl at that age. The whitecoats-" Mary used the same word the flock used to describe the jerks who poked us with needles. "-found out that I was infertile and couldn't reproduce. They got really mad because what good was a twenty-million dollar genetic-freak that couldn't do one of the very important things she was designed for? So..."

Mary bit her lip and held back something. The whole time, anger had been seeping into her voice. She choked on the word "mad." My skin crawled and Fang ran his hand up the side of my arm where bumps were showing. It made me shiver but I didn't show it. His touch warmed me up, even though it wasn't that cold out.

"So Eve was made instead," Jonah finished her sentence, looking at her, trying to comfort her through his eyes but not moving to touch her. Mary stopped drawing circles in the sand. Eve looked at both of them, frowning, and then mumbled, "Ish."

_That word again! _

Mary turned her head to look at Eve and smiled slightly. "What is ish, honey?"

"Mary!" Eve beamed and leaned on her shoulder. Mary sighed then went back to drawing patterns in the sand while Eve traced them with her eyes.

"We're designed to survive environmental disasters. You can go high in the mountains and be just fine. We can go into the sea and live in it for the rest of our lives," Mary said and I suddenly knew where she might be going with this. "Your group could survive if the human race didn't, Max- you'd be able to escape and tough it out. But if you couldn't, where would be the next best place to go?"

"... to the water," I realized. _They really __**are**__ the back-up plan._

"Which is what we were made for," Jonah finished. We all sat in silence for a minute- I counted. I was really empathetic towards Jonah, Mary, and Eve but I was even more angry that any of this happened in the first place. The worst part was that everything they had just said made sense.

_This is so screwed up._

"But when they found out that I couldn't give the world any babies, Eve was made. She's basically myself, just started as a different embryo but was engineered with all my traits and disease resistances, just improved in a lot of ways. She can go deeper in water, doesn't need food for a maximum limit of eight days-"

"-which is why she's so skinny, in case you were wondering. They just ran a test on it three weeks ago and she hasn't gained her weight back," Jonah interjected, reaching out to stroke Mary's hair then Eve's cheek.

"But most importantly, she's capable of surviving an apocalypse then have a baby," Mary sighed, then looked up at each one of us. "Which is why those sickos at the Aquarium named her 'Eve': the mother of the species."

* * *

Eve sat on her knees, looking back and forth between all of the faces- two familiar, six unfamiliar. Everyone was staring at her; some slightly shocked, others sympathetic. Eve understood most of what Jonah and Mary had said- she'd heard it from the whitecoats before.

"They named her that? That's a little sick, isn't it?" Iggy grimaced as he said it. Mary laughed slightly and nodded.

"I'll never know why they did the things they do..." she trailed off.

Eve kept thinking how glad she should be for not being in the Aquarium anymore and for having these people with wings break her out. It was nice to be free. The ocean was wonderful. She glanced back at it longingly, remembering what it felt like to finally be more than ten feet under water. The pressure was mind-numbingly pleasant.

She could go as deep as she wanted, the scientists would tell her. Her skeletal structure was thick cartilage and her skull was re-enforced steel strong, capable of withstanding deep water. Her organs could keep up with pressure, too. Inside, she was very fish-like. The whitecoats had taken lots of x-rays. One of them had told her when she was four, "You could walk on the bottom of the Java Trench, Eve."

That was her least favorite whitecoat.

Eve frowned suddenly, remembering him. That was before her operation. Then she smiled again, remembering that she was free! She turned around and everyone was listening to Jonah, but Mary was still watching her. She looked sort of sad, bitter-tasting. Eve frowned. Mary being sad made her sad, too. She wished she could tell Mary to not be sad, but whenever she felt the words inside her head, she forgot what they were.

Eve thought in memories and emotions and she tasted those emotions. Words didn't work when she thought about saying them. She could hear and understand words but she couldn't make them come out of her mouth, except for the ones she could use when she knew just what to say.

"That's pretty much our story, by the way. Shouldn't we be going somewhere?" Jonah asked, standing up and slapping sand of his butt. Max stood up and the rest of them followed her at the same time. Fang put his hand on Max's shoulder and Eve felt the protection he had for her. Protection tasted sweet, like strawberries. Max suddenly flooded Eve's senses with the taste of something sour, but not too strong: need.

"Oh, but sitting and chatting was **such** fun," Max laughed a little loudly then started walking away from the beach. They all followed her. Eve smiled. _Sheep._

Eve jumped on Jonah's back and he carried her. He came up on Max's right side. Fang was on her left. "Where are we going exactly, birdie?"

"There's an empty beach house not too far from here," Fang said, looking over at Jonah. "That okay with you?"

Eve tasted a swell of blueberry when he said it. Blueberry meant annoyance. Eve tilted her head, confused.

"Fine with me. You guys don't seem to have much of a problem with breaking into places, so I don't either," Jonah smiled, but he tasted like blueberries. Nudge laughed. She tasted like cinnamon syrup- energetic and happy. Angel giggled and Gazzy snorted, mumbling "You don't know the half of it."

Eve decided she liked these people. She liked their wings, too. They were pretty and she wanted to touch them, but she thought she shouldn't. That might be a little odd.

They walked up a road for about a half a mile and went through the door of a one-story blue house on stilts. The living room was big and spacious. That's where Nudge and Angel put blankets and pillows from the bedroom onto the floor. Jonah placed her on the couch. Mary pulled Eve up besides her and told her rest.

Eve watched as Max and the Gasman closed every window in the house and locked them. They pulled down the blinds and locked the door, too. Fang and Iggy came out of the kitchen carrying two boxes of cereal and a box of crackers.

The people with wings ate all of that food in no time. Eve even had three crackers herself, though she never once in her life felt hungry, even when the whitecoats had done those tests that almost killed her. Mary got really angry when they did those. Eve would taste salt and very strong pepper and one time, when a doctor came in to try to make Mary stay quiet, Eve tasted metal coming from her.

Mary only ever tasted like that twice- that time after that test and when they broke out an hour ago. She killed the doctor that day after her test, when he came in.

That's how she got the name:_ Bloody Mary._

When everything went quiet and the dark-haired boy was keeping look-out, Eve noticed how he watched the girl, Max. She tasted strawberries and the warm, slightly sour but delicious taste of devotion. Fang studied the girl's face and she could see what she tasted in his eyes.

She smiled, then let the steady _thump, thump _of Mary's strong and sometimes confused heart put her to sleep.

* * *

**_Did you KNOW that, in order to read messages sent to you by other fanfictioneers, you have to go to you e-mails? I was just wondering because no one's been responding to me and I'm like "Wtf? Do I smell or something?!"_**

**_Or maybe its just cause I haven't... checked... in awhile... _**

**_Anyhow, if you have any questions at all, just tell me in the reviews and I'll try my best to clarify! Mucho gracias mis amigos! Hasta luego!_**

**_(I think I said that right...) Review! Love! Be awesometasticlyoffthechain! THANK YOU!_**


	7. The Sleepover

_**Hallo! New LONG-AWAITED (just two days pfft) chappie! Yayness!**_

**_So... uh... minor plot-twist... and there's an event that got things moving a little quicker... mostly because I didn't feel like writing a fight-scene! YAY LAZINESS!_**

**_And I haven't been procrastinating, I've been... sleeping. A lot. So yeh! Still lazy!_**

**_Thanks a ton for all the reviews- I think about an hour after I post this I'll have 1,000 views! 1,000 reviews would be equally if not more so awesometastic but ya know -shrug- I'm not complaining._**

**_THANK YOU! Review por favorrrrr..._**

* * *

_Max. Max. Max._

I can't help but think how cute she is when she sleeps. _It's killing me._

I was keeping look-out for everyone while they slept. We were inside some beach house with three fish-people. They all looked really tired. Except for me, of course. I have just a little bit of insomnia.

I blinked and stared harder at Max in the dark. I could see the outline of her face. She was sleeping on her side, curled up into a little ball. Some of her hair covered her eyes and I wanted to walk over, reach down, and push it away.

But I'd probably wake someone up. The flock was crowded on the living room floor and Max was dead-center, next to Angel who was lined by Akila and Total.

_It's like a mine-field._

I smiled and shook my head, thinking about it. That was when my stomach growled.

_Yeah, okay. I'll feed you, shut up._

I decided the flock and the... the... _school_. _Heh. That's ironic, but no._

The flock and the _fish_ would be okay for a few minutes while I re-raided the kitchen. I stood up slowly and backed into the other room, closing the door with a almost silent 'click' behind me. After tripping to find the light-switch, the one over the sink cut on. I opened a few cabinets- none of them squeaked- and found a take-out box with Thai food inside. "2 minutes to cook!"

My stomach growled again. _Perfect._

It took me four complete turns of the box to find the directions and eventually I had the thing in the microwave, buzzing.

Then Iggy came in, quieter than I had been. "Hey. Sneaking food?"

I sighed and mumbled, "Hey, Ig. And yeah- you want any?"

"Nah, I'm not that hungry yet," he leaned against the door frame then a look of disgust moved across his face. "Sea foam green? Who designed this house?"

I looked around. The kitchen was a pretty nasty shade of green. I winced, realizing it. "Sicker people than the whitecoats?"

"Probably. So, what's your opinion on the fishies?" Iggy asked me rubbing his neck and tilting it to the side.

"They seem..." how did they seem? The Eve girl was cute and acted cute- _like a little girl. _Mary was obviously a big-thinker. She had a lot going on inside her head, you could tell. I figured I liked them both. Jonah... well, he hadn't done anything wrong but I didn't trust him. "Eve's sweet, Mary's... _nice_... and the Jonah guy's okay, I guess," I shrugged and opened the microwave before it beeped... and beeped... and beeped. _Why can't they just do it once?_

"What do they look like?" Iggy asked me, still leaning against the doorframe and trying to stretch his neck. His wings poked out through his t-shirt the awkward way they usually did. Iggy was taller than me, but more lanky. Like a cross-country runner with wings.

"Why do I have to answer that?" I said, opening my take-out box. I was only kidding, but Iggy frowned.

"Because I'm blind and you're not?"

"Yeah, ok. Stop nagging me, orphan-features. They all have really big, icy eyes with huge pupils and they're way pale. Paler than you," I told him.

"Wow. I'll have to touch them to compare..." I sighed which in guy talk was a laugh and took a bite of the Thai food. Not bad... interesting, but good. Iggy sat down in a seat on the table and I followed him.

"Anyway, the Eve girl is completely hairless, from what I can tell (**note: HEY OH! LMAO**). She's... uh... cute though. Small face... round eyes... looks kind of Romanian."

"Riiiight... because I know what Romanian looks like."

"And the Jonah guy is shorter than us. Probably about six feet. He's got long hair for a dude and it's Max's color, just a little less brown. Built Ford-tough."

"Ford-tough?"

"Ford-tough."

"Oh."

"And Mary's got a long, straight nose and her whole face is..."

"Is she really pretty?"

I think I may have blushed. 1) I might have said that and 2) why is Iggy asking? "Who wants to know?"

"The blind kid," he was blushing. _Score. Possible blackmail. _I smiled and of course Ig couldn't see it. This felt like the time when Iggy asked me about beach-bunnies. I smiled wider.

"Yeah, she's pretty for a fish. Why are you asking?"

He exhaled with a hiss. "She sounds pretty, that's all."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

I finished my food in the minute of silence that followed and Iggy spoke up again. "Is she curvy?"

I practically choked, then thought about it. She was a little meatier than Max with wider hips and... back...side... but Max was pure muscle and really beautiful. Beautiful, tight, just-below-her-skin muscle that I could feel shake when my hands touched her..."Go to bed, pervert."

He sighed and obliged. I wasn't sure if I was talking to him or me.

Either way, I still had look-out duty.

* * *

It was the morning after our first fish and avian hybrid slumber party!

The pillow fight was so much fun but I especially enjoyed the part where we compared our bodies then ended up crying while we told each other we were beautiful then ate ice-cream while watching _The Notebook_!

...

Joking. I had you going, didn't I?

Gazzy cried at the reunion scene.

Moving on. It was technically the afternoon after our sleep-over, we all woke up around 1 p.m. Jonah had agreed to take look-out at some point and I assumed he and Fang had switched when I woke up, turned over, and saw him look at me. He smiled. "Good afternoon."

I was still a little groggy so I sat up slow. It looked like Gazzy, Eve, and Mary were all already awake and off doing something. I suddenly rubbed my arm. It was sore. I touched the skin where the scar from my operation had once been, the one that made my arm a giant whacking-stick attached to my shoulder. My memory switched back to the time on the beach when I frantically cut myself trying to get the chip out. I remembered Fang holding me and being worried when- _Hey_. _Where is he? _

Then I spotted a black head of hair on the floor where Jonah had been sleeping, over by the wall. Fang was sleeping on his back, his head rolled to the side in my direction, wearing that vague, emotionless mask like usual. His hair was covering his eyes and I had the urge to move the loose strands away with the back of my hand, bend down, and kiss the forehead that was hilariously pale because it was always covered with said black hair.

_I never get to see him asleep. He's always up before me. Oh, he looks so cute! HAH! Fang looks cute! Cute! Hahahaha. What is wrong with me?_

I frowned. What _was _wrong with me? My stomach flipped when his eyes snapped open, catching me staring at him. I could see the haze of sleep in his chocolate, almost black eyes. Then came the excitement. He had caught me staring.

A smirk played on one side of his lips, just barely there but I saw it. I blushed and looked back at Jonah who was staring at something past us. I followed his line of sight and saw Mary open the front door. She walked in carrying two plastic bags full of food. Gazzy came next. I glared at him suspiciously. He flashed a credit-card at me and beamed while Total trotted at his heels, looking smug.

_Little thieves._

"We went to a grocery store and got stuff for breakfast. It wasn't too far away. Look what Eve picked out," Mary said, walking into the kitchen to put the bags down. Everyone had woken up when they came in. Time slowed inside my head for a second and I thought about sitting down for breakfast but then remembered how close we were to the lab. Maybe a sit-down wasn't a good idea... when the sound of plastic bags rustling got loud, I snapped back to reality while Iggy immediately followed Mary into the kitchen. _He really likes cooking, doesn't he?_

Eve walked in the door wearing a base-ball cap but what really got me, other than her adorable smile and huge, happy eyes, was one important detail. _OH MY GOD- SHE HAS HAIR?!_

Gazzy quickly started to explain after my jaw hit the floor. "Its faux hair on the inside of the hat."

When my jaw didn't move and Fang started to look uncomfortable, he sighed and added something else. "I'm not used to it either, but at least her head won't get sunburn."

"Which, by the way, I bought three bottles!" Mary called from the kitchen. I heard Iggy laugh loudly after she said that. He said something else that made her laugh, but I couldn't hear over the sounds of pots and pans clanging.

"Jonah! Jonah!" Eve ran over to him and hugged him tightly. He squeaked for air then patted her on the back while he managed to laugh. "Good, Jonah?"

"Very good, Eve. It's almost the same color as your hair when you were little," Jonah said. He looked at her with the fondness of a brother to a little sister. Gazzy was like that with Angel, just not as huggy. Eve liked hugs though, obviously, so I guess that didn't matter.

Her new "hair" was a dark, dark brown. There was an almost copper tint to it in this light and when she turned her head to look at us, things took full effect. The dark hair, the pale skin, the crystal blue eyes- all those features together at once made her look completely alien but beautiful. I felt a little jealous, honestly.

I was tan, with brownish blonde hair and brown eyes. There were freckles over my nose and cheeks, too. I didn't feel like the beauty that Eve was.

But I shook my head and pushed the thought away. _She's just a little girl, Max. Stop it._

Within a few minutes, Iggy had made enough eggs for all of us and four rounds of toast on a plate. Mary had kept insisting he was making too-much.

"I bought enough for three days! That's how much Gazzy said! Three days worth of breakfast," Mary argued, putting her hands on her hips.

"I meant three days would be enough _for_ breakfast..." Gazzy mumbled, trying not to get into it.

Iggy smiled and laughed at something. Mary instantly grew furious, but when she spoke she sounded nervous. "What's so funny?!"

"Nothing," he laughed. Angel pulled on my sleeve and I looked at her. She motioned for me to bend down so she could whisper something, so I did.

"He thinks she sounds cute when she's mad," Angel told me, smiling herself.

_Ohhhhhh. I get it now!_

Angel and I shared a laugh then Iggy announced breakfast was "read-eh."

Four of us took to the table (Total walked around on top. How hygienic...) and the rest ate standing up. I was lucky enough to eat standing up. I devoured my eggs. The flock did, too.

I noticed that Mary and Jonah kept having to encourage Eve to eat. She looked bothered, like she didn't want to even though she _had _to be starving at that weight. I'd be eating my own hands off before I ever got into her condition.

Eve suddenly decided she should eat and finished an Angel-sized helping of eggs. Angel then moved on to toast. Eve did not. We were all eating peacefully until I saw Angel's hand stop before she grabbed another piece. She gasped and spun around to look at me. Her eyes read panic.

"MAX! ERASERS!" she coughed, choking on the bite of toast she hadn't completely swallowed before going for another.

My instincts kicked in and the rest of the flock's did, too.

"How far away, Ange?" Iggy asked as he stood up and ran into the living room, getting our back-packs.

"Three miles. Coming fast but they're in a car for some reason- no wings," she answered immediately. Nudge, Angel and Fang stuffed as much food as they could into the bags. Mary, Jonah, and Eve stood watching us, confused.

"What the hell are Erasers? What's going on?" Jonah said while Eve clung to Mary.

"I'll tell you later, just get ready to fly-" I stopped mid-syllable. They couldn't fly! Shit! What were we going to do?!

Ok. I admit it. I temporarily panicked. _Could we fly while they swim? Could we get them to the shore in time? Not possible!_

_Stupid, stupid, stupid Max! _I knew we should have left right when we woke up! _AH!_

Car. That was all we had left as an escape option. Drive or fight, flight or fight... well, flight wasn't about to work so it had to be car, even though that's what they were using apparentl-

"How many?" Fang asked before I could even finish my thought. The back-packs were full and Fang, Nudge, Gasman, Iggy, Mary, Jonah, and myself all stared at Angel. Eve was playing with Mary's hair.

"... Four," she answered, looking a little confused. I thought about it, too. _Just FOUR?! We could so fight them!_

That was when Angel added, her face growing dark, "Four Erasers... with guns."

I winced. That wasn't good. _Car it is!_

"How are we getting away from here?! Why are we wasting time talking?!" Mary screamed, furious and terrified.

"RELAX!" I screamed back, and she shut her mouth and her eyes. "We need to find a car- maybe two- that's our only way out now. How far away?"

"Two miles," Angel answered, concentrating on something.

"Okay. Let's go find a car," Fang announced, then headed for the door. The flock stopped to put on their windbreakers. THEN we headed for the door.

* * *

We ran down the street, looking in all the driveways. The air was hot but not humid like it usually is inland. I liked this weather. Very nice. I could wear shorts year-round, I bet.

_FOCUS, DORK!_

"Max! Look!" Nudge pointed down the street and there was our getaway mobile. A big, white, ugly ten-passenger van in the parking lot of a closed Kayak rental-hut. _Awesome._

We sprinted down the street and pulled on the doors. Locked. Fang moved me to the side and I couldn't help but shiver when his arm touched my skin. _So not the time but still enjoyable. _He brought his arm back, fist clenched, and shot it forward, connecting with the driver window.

Too bad it didn't break.

Fang inhaled, grabbed his fist, bent over and then I heard it building behind his breath. "SON OF A BITCH! FUCK!"

I.Could.Not.Laugh.

But I did anyway. Everyone did except the fish-people. Jonah moved Fang out of the way and smashed the window open the same way Fang had tried. I kept laughing.

"I loosened it up for him," Fang declared with all the pride he had left as the laughing ended. Iggy bent down under the dash-board and ripped off the paneling. In ten seconds, he had it hot-wired.

"Done. Can I drive this time since I did most of the work?" he asked me, wiggling his eyebrows. I smiled.

"Sorry. I don't want to die from Erasers or you," I jumped in, saw Iggy pout, then buckled my seatbelt. Everyone was already loaded up when Iggy closed the side-door two seconds later.

"Ready, Jeeves," Fang mocked me. He usually drives but I had made him promise he'd let me the next time. I put the van into reverse and then hit the accelerator... a little too-hard. The car jerked, we all swung forward, and the bumper connected with a wall. I grimaced then looked over at Fang. He wasn't there anymore!

Then I heard my door open. Fang pulled me out by my waist and I won't mention the slight swoon I got when he put me down. Alright, so I just mentioned it. "I'm driving."

Of course, he was. We just LOVE consistency.

I sprinted to the passenger side reluctantly, climbed in and closed the door. That's when Angel told us, "They're here. GO!"

Fang was already in drive and hit the gas. We lurched forward and shot him a "Oh really now?" glare and he smiled at me then sung, "I haven't hit anything yet, Maximum."

I turned around to look behind us and saw a car pulling- quickly- into the driveway of the beach-house we had been in two minutes ago. The doors opened all at once, the engine still ran, and the Erasers were up the stairs in seconds. By then, I was watching this all from behind. Fang glanced in the rear-view and kept driving. I felt the atmosphere in the van relax and everyone sat up. Whoa! When had they lied down...?

_I'm so out of it._

Ten minutes later, we were on Straights Road, heading inland.

We had gotten out alive and without conflict. I glanced in the back seat and noticed Jonah holding Eve very tightly, protectively. Mary had her head resting on Eve's should while Eve's head rested on Jonah's. Their eyes were closed, relaxing after that adrenaline-rush, but his were wide-open, staring out the window. His jaw looked tight, like Fang's did when he was thinking about something important.

Or before he'd want to know what was going on between us and I'd politely attempt to change the subject... _what is going on between us? I haven't really talked with him in what feels like forever..._

I looked at him with his black hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. He stared straight ahead then felt me looking. He turned and smiled at me- but only slightly. My stomach fluttered. I relaxed at the silence in the van, the quietness of his eyes on mine.

Nudge's arm shot in front of my face and slammed on the horn.

"WATCH IT, BUDDY!" she yelled at a car that was about to pull out in front of us. Fang hit the breaks a little but the guy had gotten the message and moved out of the way before we passed him. He flicked us off as we went by and Nudge showed him her "pretty face". Not pretty. The sense of normalcy was returning.

"Where are we going?" Gazzy asked from the way, way backseat.

"Oh! I want to go to Florida! We could see alligators and stuff!" Angel chimed in, clapping her hands together. Total winced at the sound.

It gets _so loud _inside cars. I was going to miss silence. I sighed and looked out the window. Jet-ski rentals... gas prices were unusually high... law-firm...

_HOW MUCH FOR A GALLON?! _

_Where'd I put the credit-card?!_

* * *

**_Hope you liked! Iggy seems to have a thing for Ms. Mary, eh? Which should calm all you MaxXFang worshippers down a little bit, but not really since I haven't made much of a romance scene between them lately... _**

**_but guess what I have planned? Ok, so I made an entire outline of this story the other night and TA-DAMN! Next chapter- romance scene! HAH!_**

**_Okay then. Thanks so much for reading you awesome, amazing people! Review and I'll write faster! Thanks!_**


	8. Chew the powercord

_**Alright. Here ya go: capitulo numero ocho. Chapter number eight!**_

_**I really hope you like this. I did a few... riskay things, but whatever. Not that bad... **_

_**ENJOY! REVIEW! BE AWESOME! PARTAY LIKE ROCKSTARS BUT NOT THE DRUG-ADDICT KIND! THANK YOU!**_

* * *

"Fang, merge! MERGE! MERGE, FANG!" I screamed at him from the passenger's seat, looking frantically behind us then back at him. We were getting on an interstate and while Fang may be a better driver than me, he SUCKED at merging.

"There's a car right there," he pointed to a small hybrid. I gaped at him- there was room!

"YOU CAN SO! We're running out of lane!" and we were.

Nudge's hand shot onto the car horn. We all winced and I heard Gazzy scream out the back window, "MOVE IT, CREEP!"

We were SO going to get rear-ended.

By some miracle, Fang managed to FINALLY get into the North-bound lane of traffic without killing us. I sighed and melted in my seat. If I get any more stressed, my feathers will fall out.

In the seat behind me were Nudge, Angel, Total, and Akila. Behind them, Mary, Eve, and Jonah sat quietly, taking in the sights. If you squinted really hard and stared long enough, in the way, way back seat you could see the Gasman and Iggy. Iggy had his head on the glass, sighing because Gazzy was really loud. He kept yelling at other cars.

At one point, he threw out a tomato. I don't know where he got a tomato to throw, but it hit this poor old lady's windshield after she had almost swerved into us. Nudge laid on the horn again. I had enough. "TOUCH IT AGAIN, NUDGE."

Nudge shrunk in her seat. Good.

"So, Fang. What's wrong with you?" I asked him. Ever since we had left the beach-house three hours ago, Fang had been sulking. He glanced at me with his empty stare and went back to driving. I arched an eyebrow. "Fangy? Fang-fang? Fannnng?"

"What?" he mumbled, still focused on driving. I had decided we should go north for awhile. For some reason, my instincts said north.

"Why are you sulking?" I asked.

"I'm not sulking."

"You are..."

"...Not..."

"...Not sulking. Therefore, you must be sulking. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." he lied. Clearly, he was hiding something. His voice sounded far away.

I sighed then got an idea. I leaned over, tapped him on the shoulder, and his head slowly swiveled to me. I was nine inches from his face which is a much smaller distance than you think. A blush crept into his cheeks. "Tell me tonight."

He gulped and suddenly Nudge's hand shot by my face again. Her shoulder connected with my jaw, knocking me back into my seat, and a horn went off while our car swiveled to the right, clunking me into the glass. "LAY OFF THE HORN!"

"He almost drifted into the left lane- that wasn't OUR horn! STOP FLIRTING AND FOCUS!" I blushed and straightened in my seat, staring straight ahead. I managed to tilt my head enough to catch a glimpse at Fang. He was trying not to smile.

I smiled, watching him try not to.

Nudge mumbled in the backseat. Angel giggled. Why? Use your imagination.

* * *

The time was 6:49 p.m. It was still light out as Fang turned into the Chik'fil'A (sp?) parking lot. "Drive-thru or sit-down?" he asked.

"SIT-DOWN" was the group answer. He frowned and pulled into a parking spot. We all unloaded from the van and Angel sprinted inside. Iggy laughed very loudly while he said, "Nice parking."

Fang's face fell and he looked down at the white lines on the pavement. He frowned. "My parking is fin-"

Fang whipped around and glared. Iggy waved his hand in front of his face, smiling. Gazzy was the last out of the van and we all headed inside. Angel was already waiting in line, impatiently, and had already ordered. The cashier looked nervously between her and us.

I walked up first. "Two number... eights, large fries, and a small chocolate milkshake."

I stepped aside.

"A number one, a number three, and a large lemonade, please," Nudge shot a dazzling smile. The clerk winced, obviously blinded.

"Three number sevens. Coke," Fang was quite the talker today.

Gazzy stared intently at the wall. I panicked. Dear god, this could NOT be good. "A number ten, a number eight, two slices of cheesecake and... uh... another slice of cheesecake."

The cashier blinked. "So three cheesecakes?"

"No, three slices."

"... I meant that."

"Sure."

...

Iggy walked up, stood quietly, then said, "What would you recommend?"

"Uhh... the number four, maybe...?"

"What does it look like?"

"... its chicken tenders."

" Yeah, okay. Three of those and a Pepsi. And cheesecake sounded good..."

The poor, acne-ridden kid never saw us coming. _There's a lot of that going around lately._

"Can I get two number ones? Jonah, what do you want?" Mary asked, holding Eve's hand. Eve looked around, her big, icy eyes took everything in. The cashier gaped at them. Mary and Eve blinked. Yeah, okay, so Eve looked inhumanly cute and Mary had an inhuman quality about her. Stop star-

"Stop staring. I'll have a number six with lemonade, thanks," Jonah added confidently as he looked back at me and grinned. Even though they didn't necessarily look it, they all had this unnaturally foreign aura to them. Not French foreign, but you know- other worldly. "You paying?"

"Huh? Oh, right," I mentally shook my head and paid the cashier. Five minutes later, we had our food and were sitting down to eat when the voice popped back into my head.

_-Maximum, how are the students doing? Are they well? Have you been feeding the smallest one? _

_Shut up and go away. I don't need your help._

_-I think you do. You keep wasting time, Max. Focus on your mission._

_Which is what exactly?_

_-Think about it. What's your mission?_

I took a furious bite out of my poor chicken sandwich. The flock all looked at me. Angel watched carefully. _To save the world, right? I've already done that._

_-Don't get so cocky. You might have woken it up to some degree, but the world is far from saved. Now I want you to think how the students could be of importance to your mission. What can they do that you can't?_

_... breathe underwater. Tap-dance?_

_... okay, the first part matters more. Think on that._

_You're an as- _but it was gone. I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich. By then, everyone could tell what was going on except for the STUDENTS, of course. I looked at Jonah and Mary. "You two. Me. Later. Talk."

We finished our meals and were on the road again in no time.

* * *

Fang decided we should park on a back-road and sleep in the van for the night. I disagreed, but I knew the credit card was getting very, very low after that feast. I'd have to steal another one soon. We could DEFINITELY not afford a hotel room, even though parking by the road is sort of creepy and risky in a different way.

He pulled the van off the interstate and drove for about three minutes, until he was on a two-lane road. He parked the van back near the edge of a forest. The flock settled in and I looked back at Jonah and Mary. They unloaded and stood outside the door, waiting for me and our "talk". I glanced at Fang. He looked distant, far-away.

Hurt, maybe.

"Fang, what's wrong?" there was more concern in my voice than I could control.

His dark eyes looked at me. His hand moved to my cheek and rested there. Despite the electricity of his touch, I didn't look away. He looked a little annoyed, hurt, and something else I couldn't describe. Fang's hand fell away from my face and he used it to lean his seat back.

I sensed that was the end of the conversation for now so I jumped out of my seat, feeling a little confused. Jonah and Mary were already sitting about thirty yards away, by a raspberry bush. I strutted over, popped one in my mouth and sat down next to them.

"I have a voice inside my head," may as well tell them now. They didn't seem surprised.

"Yeah, I figured you were nuts," Jonah laughed and Mary played with her hair, braiding it and unbraiding it. Then he added something, a little more seriously. "How nuts are you?"

I was offended. "I'm not nuts!"

"Just checking."

"Right. Anyway, this voice told me to break you out of that School... Aquarium, you know."

"Sure do," Mary mumbled, going for her second braid. "But why?"

"I have a mission 'to save the world' or some clichéd crap like that. It keeps telling me your a part of that mission," I watched their faces for reactions. Jonah perked up a little and Mary started to have that far-off thinking look in her eyes.

"The flock already went to Washington and I did a huge speech on Global Warming. We went to Antarctica, too. Lots of penguins. Lots of ice. How do you think you can help me?" _What? I have no ideas. And it is very cold in Penguin-world. _

"I'll think on it," Mary mumbled, unbraiding the braid she had just made... hey, that rhymes.

"Same here, but I don't know what I could do... me and the world aren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment," Jonah added quietly.

"Eve's probably wondering where we are. Is that everything, Max?" Mary looked at me, tossing her unbraided blonde curtain over her shoulder. I blinked. That was fast.

"Uh... sure," I said, a little surprised. I was expecting a huge, long conversation but no. No chit-chat for me.

They stood up and walked away. I sat by myself, silently thinking and thinking silently. What the hell did the voice want me to do? SA_VE THE WORLD. _Okay, I get it, shut up. But why did Mary or Jonah or Eve matter? What could they do? Mary sounded like she was genuinely going to _think on it _but Jonah sounded annoyed. I wondered why, but not for long.

Fang sat down next to me. _Where did he come from?_

* * *

"Where did you come from?" Max seemed surprised and a little scared. Of course she was, I had snuck up on her on purpose. I broke a twig in my hands and answered.

"A lab. You?"

"Ha-ha. You should be a comedian."

"I've thought about it."

Max smiled. Her smile was... pretty. I could watch it all day. Her mouth would bend mostly to the left and her eyes would sparkle brighter, like a tooth-paste commercial, only much more attractive. Suddenly, the sensation of where my knee was touching her bare thigh intensified (It's summer. Think shorts). _Great. _

I pulled my knees very firmly to my chest and put my arms over the top. Why, you ask? Figure it out.

Normally I can handle stupid things like driving or kicking someone in the ribs, but when a pretty girl puts her head on your shoulder and sends a shock wave through you... not so much. Max's head was on my shoulder. She sighed heavily and looked up at me with her brown, almond shaped eyes. I gulped.

"Fang. What was wrong with you earlier? No lying. You're a bad liar, even with that poker-face," she smiled. Her face was really close to mine. I could just lean over and kiss her and stop myself from answering, but I couldn't kiss her right now. I didn't want that yet.

I thought about it. Why was I so ticked-off and annoyed? Oh yeah. I COULDN'T BREAK A FREAKING WINDOW AND JONAH COULD. How about how Max said "Tell me later" and then tells Jonah and Mary to talk to her later?

What IS wrong with me? Why am I feeling so... jealous? I really need to punch something right now.

"Fang." Max said.

"What?" I said.

"You're tense."

Ah. So I was. "I see."

"Do you?"

"Yes. Why are you so tense?" Because you annoyed me a little bit and I want to be frustrated with you but I can't do that with your head on my shoulder and this freaking er-

"Fang, are you mad at me?" ouch. That hurt coming from her. I looked down at Max and saw the look on her face. She was really concerned about me. I usually never saw her softer side and was a little shell-shocked to see her being vulnerable so easily. It was REALLY cute.

"No. I'm not," I answered her and felt like I was telling the truth. She kept staring at me and that's when I couldn't stand it anymore. I tilted her face to me and kissed her on the lips. It wasn't a very long kiss, but I felt the electricity even when she pulled away.

"Fang... no... not right now... there's way too much going on inside my head... and-" she was rambling, so I cut her off with another kiss.

"Stop saying no to me, Max."

* * *

I didn't want to, as per usual.

I don't know WHAT possessed him to just kiss me suddenly, but its not like I was about to complain. Fang kept on kissing me and I felt my brain blank out. This was completely electrifying and I'll use the same expression twice to describe it: _like sticking a fork in a light socket._

His arm went behind my waist and pulled me up and- OHMYGOD- onto his lap.

_Oh.My.God. This is chew-the-power-cord electrifying!_

I sat very happily like a little lap-dog and let him kiss me some more. Once again, his tongue did something weird. I don't know WHAT, but I mentally prayed he wouldn't do it again.

And he didn't! There is a god! But really, I loved the kiss. His hand was on the side of my face, with his thumb in front of my ear and his fingers on the soft-spot behind it. Fang kept moving his thumb in little circles on my cheek and I practically melted. I even forgot where his other hand was for a second. Then I remembered it was resting very tightly on the small of my back. Very nice. I'll give him a twenty on a scale of one to ten...

... or a million. What was he doing now?

He stood up very abruptly and, holy crap, I came with him. My legs were around his waist and he was using both hands to hold me there!

I had a mini-stroke. Clearly, I was dying from this.

He walked backwards behind the trees and then I remembered that we were in plain view of the van the whole time. I heard whistles.

_Shit. _

Fang pushed me up against a tree and let my legs down. I was a little sad to have to do that. Ok, so it felt nice being THAT close to him... sue me.

His left hand automatically went to my waist and his other one attached to my neck. He was enjoying this. Definitely. So was I, even if I was giving myself a mental-play-by-play.

Just as suddenly as everything else had been happening, his mouth went to my neck. I shivered as his lips dragged down my skin very, very softly. His head buried behind my mane of hair and I felt him nip the skin over my collarbone. I bit my lip. This was new, very new.

But I loved it. I loved him. I loved everything about him. The color of his eyes, the sound of his voice, his attitude about everything- even his dorkish sarcasm. I loved all of it. I loved him and was perfectly prepared to do just that: _love him_.

I pulled him tighter to me as his lips went lower on my shoulders. They rested just above my shirt-line and I noticed him pause for a second, like he was thinking of something. I wondered what it was but forgot very quickly. His teeth bit the fabric and pulled just slightly, then he let go.

His lips were back on mine, pressing very tightly. My hands were absolutely everywhere. I couldn't track the bastards if I tried or cared. But when things get loose, they do what they want. The flock was an obvious example, and so is my right hand.

It snuck up the back of Fang's shirt and I felt the smooth, taught skin there. He shivered slightly and pulled away to look at me. His eyes were very lit and alive. I liked that look very much. I smiled with something I didn't know I had and pulled him back to me, kissing a little stronger than before. His hands went up the back of my shirt, too. No clothes between his hands and my skin.

I felt very connected, but limited. I wanted to be closer, so I pushed myself closer. That wasn't helping, even though he was warm and I could feel his heartbeat. My kiss drifted to the sides of his faces, then to his ear. His hair still smelt like sky and sweat (which for some reason, I couldn't seem to get enough of, either).

Don't ask me how it smells. I'll just tell you that it smells like Fang.

My hand trailed up his spine and that's when he pulled away. Fang's eyes were on fire and I loved it. I loved him. I loved the excitement I feel every time I kiss him. I loved not knowing what came next.

He pulled my hand, smiled at me dazedly, then we started walking back to the van.

_I love you. I'm ready to love you and I want you can see that._

What I wasn't ready for was the swarm of mutant-bird kids and the chorus of whistles and laughter when we got back.

_Shit._

Despite my humiliation, I ended up sleeping with my head on his shoulder.

_I am ready to love you. Why do I sound like a bad poem? Oh god. Am I still thinking this?_

* * *

**_-SMILE-_**

**_Yayness- ROMANCE! I know what you're thinking: "FINALLY." And it seems like our darling Maximum has a bit of a sexy side. _**

**_I don't know if I'll make them do anything like that... that would be fun but... you know... completely inappropriate, considering they're 14, almost 15. But that doesn't stop Crystal Crews! Her baby was born yesterday! Yay teenage pregnancy!_**

**_So, as it seems, this is chapter eight. I hope you enjoyed. THANK YOU! Please review! Reviews are like MaxXFang and IggyXToph (LMAO, thank you, KK!)- I just can't get enough._**

**_Thanks! Review!_**


	9. Beep

**Firsts things first, kinda rushed it.**

**I finished the chapter at about 11:40 pm and now I'm adding the edits and commentary to it, and all the while I'm completely and utterly zonked. I went to the pool all day, walked to the library, walked home, ran part of the way, then had soccer which was EXHAUSTING. On the brightside, I was goalie! Yay! And then I wrote this which is, lets face it, more exhausting than anything else. Haha. Just kidding, it was fun-like.**

**I'll stop boring you with my life now. Second things... second, sorry about the longer waits for chapters. I'm multitasking way too much lately, but I'm pretty sure the next chaptie will come soonie because its going to be fun to write! At least I hope so, har-dee-har-har.**

**There's no romance this chapter because something different happens... just go with it. Uh... is anyone strictly opposed to turtle-necks? No? That's good! Hahaha.**

**Okay... had a feeling I was going to say something important but can't remember what it was, so I'll just go ahead and wrap this up!**

**THANK YOU FOR READING! Please review! THANKS!**

* * *

"You still haven't answered my question," there was Nudge, well, nudging me.

"That's because you don't need an answer for that question, my dearest darling," I told her, trying to end the conversation but failing miserably. She kept asking me if Fang was a good kisser. I stammered the first two times she said it and by the twelfth, I was ready to throw myself out of the car. Bad idea though- we were moving at sixty-five miles an hour. Fang was dead-still in the drivers seat.

"She's thinking yes."

"ANGEL!"

"What? We all know the answer..."

"Well, yeah but- No! No? ANGEL! Keep it confidential!" I stammered, then turned on the radio, signaling the end of the conversation. Like hell I was going to keep talking about my private business with an 11-year old... and the rest of the van. I sighed.

"Am I a good kisser?" Fang asked quietly, so that only I could hear. I put my hand on the door-latch..._ three...two..._

"Well?" he asked me again, glancing at me but only for a second. His dark eyes returned to the road and I noticed the slight blush in his cheeks. For the record, you can't help but notice that.

It's just too damn cute.

"Uh..." I summarized my thoughts with the intellectual wit of a snail. I'm slow but I get where I'm going so shut it. "You're good."

I squeaked when I saw his face burst into a smile and the van lurch a little faster. He was trying not to laugh at me! "And what say you, mister hot-shot?"

He stopped and went dead-still again. I clunked my head on the window three times before he answered. "Good" was all he said. I blushed.

"Max, where are we going?" Gazzy practically yelled from the backseat. All morning I had been hearing the occasional, "where are we going?" and "where are we going?" and if I was lucky, "where are we going?"

_"Lay off guys. I have no idea where we're going, all I can tell you is that eventually we're going to get there. Where there is... I don't know. Who wants snacks?!"_

Nice. I'd probably end up making one of my split decisions that would either end up with us in cages being poked by needles or... oh, since weirder things have happened, let's say on a tour-bus with Radiohead.

"We are... going north," I answered at one point.

"WHERE?" he yelled from the back seat.

"NORTH." That was Iggy answering, not me.

I sighed and looked at the passing signs. We were nearing Washington D.C. I don't exactly LIKE Washington, considering all the FBI/CIA stuff that goes on there. Oh, and my credit card was extremely low on cash. I'd have to 'accidentally' trip someone and lift their wallet...

_... what? Don't think at me like that. We do what we have to._

That's when I remembered my mom and Ella and the internal pang of homesickness hit me like a blast of cold air. I hadn't talked to them in forever! _I'm so worried about them... how ironic..._

I made a mental note to find a phone and a wallet.

* * *

At eight in the morning on a Sunday, the Metrorail station was pretty much empty. Don't get me wrong or anything, I love being clustered next to possible pedophiles and murderers in a sardine can while being underground, but the lack of people caught me off guard. I always expected these things to be full of people, you know? Not a ghost town... ghost sardine can... you get my point.

As soon as we got to the station, the Nudge channel cut on. All Nudge. All the time.

"Ohmygawd. Look at this place! It's HUGE. And look at the tracks! And the toll-booth... thing! There are even people inside! And there's that thingy you walk through and it goes "BEEP" and then you get on the train! Ohmygod, Max, I love you for this! I LOVE YOU."

"Gee, thanks, Nudgie," I couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. My flock was just so darn cute.

"Max?" Jonah said from behind me. I turned around and saw him holding Eve's hand while Mary walked behind them, laughing about something. Fang was next to her, smiling slightly and trying not to laugh, too.

What was _that_ about? _Oh no... I'm doing the jealous thing... BAD, MAX! DOWN, MAX!_

I smiled. "Jonah?"

"Why are we going into the city, anyway?" he asked me. Eve started to skip when they were completely inside the station. Her huge, glossy eyes studied everything. She watched as a man went through the ticket-thing. It went "beep." Eve burst out laughing and ran over to it. Nudge was already there. They started giggling like crazy.

I noticed Iggy and Angel trying to figure out the routes and tolls. Good luck on that.

I had a temporary flashback of what happened right when we had shown up.

_"Max? What does this look like to you?" Gazzy pointed at the signs and routes. Max stared at it intently, arms crossed._

_"...a wall with squiggles on it."_

I smiled then remembered Jonah was talking to me.

"Oh, right- we are going into the city to-" find a wallet. "-get breakfast and buy you guys some real clothes-" not that disgusting Hawaiian shirt you're wearing that Mary found at the beach-house. "-then we'll get some lunch, maybe see the sights-" because the credit card I will have lifted off of unknown-stranger will be paying for it. "-then we'll be on our merry way."

"Where to?"

"No clue. Don't tell anyone."

"Gotcha," Jonah winked at me and went over to Eve and Nudge. Nudge was talking very animatedly to the poor woman inside the ticket-booth. Eve stood at her side, rocking on her heels and twirling a strand of "hair" between her thumb and finger.

Fang and Mary finally made it over to where I was standing. Mary was still smiling. Fang looked... like he had just laughed VERY hard. I looked at both of them. "So? What's the joke?"

Fang picked up on my tone immediately and tried to look at something else. Mary laughed once, sharp and quick. "I got my hair stuck in the door. Jonah tried to help me get it out but Eve got bored and walked off, so Fang helped me instead-" she giggled. "-but he shut the door on his elbow- don't ask me how."

Mary stopped laughing and her eyes widened. "EVE! DON'T EAT THAT!"

She sprinted away from us, cursing.

Fang's eyes met mine and I cringed. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm really bad at seeing Fang even stand next to other girls. He sighed.

_You can't have it both ways, Max... _okay, so that was a while ago, but it still applied to our relationship and I knew it. But it wasn't even like he was interested in Mary... right?

I mentally slapped myself.

What's wrong with me? Why do I keep doubting it? I told myself last night that I was in love with him and was ready to accept it... but why am I still so jealous about nothing?

My brain shorted out when his hand grabbed mine. "Come on, Max."

We walked over to the flock and the fishies, still holding hands. I heard a few Ohs and Gazzy even had the nerve to whistle. And shot him a glare and his mouth snapped shut.

I was putting up a good front, I was good at that, but inside my head, I was screaming very loudly: _YOU LOVE HIM, DORK. YOU LOVE HIM. YOU SAID THAT, SO YOU DO. Stop being like this! Just... act like your in love._

But I don't act like this when I'm in love. Other girls might, but I didn't want to be this close to him with people watching, especially my family. I wanted to be close to him when it was just US. I wanted to fly with him, too. That was closer than anything.

I gave myself a nice, hard open-handed-slap-to-the-mental-face then asked, "Do we know how to get to... anywhere?"

"Uh... Iggy said something about taking the blue-line-" Angel was cut short.

"Got the tickets," Iggy strolled up, holding nine little tickets in his pale hands. Gazzy walked next to him, flashing the credit-card at me.

"Three bucks left on this baby," he answered my question before I could ask it. Right. So we DEFINITELY needed to lift someone's wallet.

"YEAH! Finally! Let's go!" Nudge threw her little fist in the air and trotted off. Akila followed her. Wait... dogs aren't allowed on the... are they? _WHERE'S TOTAL?!_

The guard was about to come over when Iggy grabbed Akila's leash, blinked twice, and kept walking. Seeing-eye dog. Hah. I heard Angel mutter, "Thanks, Iggy." I saw a suspicious lump behind his windbreaker wiggle.

This was going to be interesting.

After going through the "beep" thingy, much to Nudge's amusement, we waited on the platform for about five minutes.

I started to feel a little nervous, but couldn't quite put my finger on why.

I looked around, scanning the area for anything weird. I hadn't been doing that too often lately. _Bad, Max._

Fang's shoulder knocked into my back gently. I looked at him and he nodded at something behind me. I very slowly turned and used my peripheral vision to find what he had noticed.

Four men had appeared out of nowhere. They stood by the elevator, acting like they weren't there for anything but the train, but it was obvious what was going on.

They were just barely "huge-looking" and had the unnatural smell of Eraser or something like it radiating off of them.

I tensed and checked my flock. They were all on the same page. Angel looked at me and I heard her whisper inside my mind, "Guns. Max? What now?"

I had no idea. Jonah, Mary, and Eve were all completely oblivious. We couldn't possibly fly them out or make it back to the van in time. Just then, the rails started shaking. Alright. Looks like we ARE taking the metrorail.

* * *

Eve stood quietly, her hands clinging around the back of Mary's too-large t-shirt, and watched the rails as they started to shake. She flicked the transparent layer of skin she used to see under water over her eye and stared harder. It just made things blurry, so she went back to normal-vision.

She was already starting to miss the water. City air didn't feel as clean in her lungs as filtered air inside the Aquarium or the oxygen she got from her gills when she had been in the ocean. Eve frowned. She missed _breathing_ the ocean. She missed the crushing feeling of being deep underwater and the way the cold liquid would slip over her skin as she moved, unnaturally fast, in the black depths. Eve sighed again.

But they were inland, now. She wouldn't get to swim for awhile.

Eve looked behind her, at Max and Fang and Nudge and Iggy and Angel and Gazzy. They all looked really stony. She tilted her head, confused. She tasted the sour twinge of grapefruit. Nervousness. Anxiety.

Then a sudden burst of copper. The train pulled up. Eve looked away as the doors opened and all hell broke loose.

Out of nowhere, four men came running over to them. Huge claws jutted out beneath their cufflinks and on the hands. Teeth grew too long in their mouths. Mary's arm went protectively around her chest and Eve stared on, mesmerized. "MAX!"

Jonah was yelling as two of the men ran towards Mary, Jonah, and Eve. Eve tasted metal and screamed. Before the larger one was two feet in front of them, Max tackled the man and threw him to the ground. She raised her fists up high and brought them down with one quick _thunk. _Something crunched, but Eve didn't know what.

She looked at the rest of the flock. Fang was punching one of the scary things very, very hard and fast to its face. Between each hit he said, "Go.Away.You.Giant.Puppies."

Angel, Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge were all running over to Max and Eve's family. They had taken out the men so quickly. Max was still on the ground, hitting the thing on its head every time it moved a little. Mary's heart was going very fast as she held Eve close to her chest. Jonah stood in front of them, watching Max.

Things seemed okay to Eve when the Splenda-sweet taste of relief crushed over her.

Eve looked around again. One... two... three of the men who had attacked them were down. Weren't there...

Suddenly, Mary wasn't holding Eve anymore. Eve looked around, surprised, and saw Mary hit the ground a few feet in front of her. Then she saw the last man standing by her back. He put his arm around her neck and she felt something hard and cold against her temple.

Eve panicked and started screaming. She couldn't though, with his hairy arm around her. His grip tightened and she saw a flash of white behind her eyes as one of the claws punctured her shoulder.

It felt like a sharp pinch at first but then grew into a very painful, burning stab. She managed to scream that time.

"Let me go or I shoot," the man behind her said very firmly. Eve didn't understand why he was doing this but she felt a new, rotten taste coming from him that she didn't recognize.

"Where would you go?" Max said, glaring at him. She sounded very scary, Eve thought but the pain made her stop thinking. She might have screamed, but she couldn't hear herself.

Mary and Jonah were standing behind Fang and Max. Mary was staring, mouth open, with tears streaming down her red eyes. Jonah wasn't crying, but she could see his knuckles go white as his fists clenched. Eve was very scared now.

Before she could scream again, Fang's hands were on the gun and the man's hand. He had moved so fast, she hadn't seen him. They struggled for a few seconds and Fang bit the man's wrist. Eve tasted his pain. It made her sick so she clung to her stomach. The man threw Fang to the ground and Max ran up, trying to get it away.

A loud, sharp crack went off.

It wasn't just Eve's shoulder or stomach that hurt now.

She started screaming again and felt Mary's hands on her shoulders before the pain and the sickness made everything go black.

* * *

"Eve? Eve, sweetie? Honey, wake up," Mary was standing over Eve, stroking her face softly. I winced when Mary sobbed again. The noise twisted my stomach, but it felt like a hug compared to the sound of Eve's scream. My heart hurt to think about it.

Mary was next to Eve as she sat on one of the metrorail train's seats while Iggy ripped off the hem of his jeans to tie around Eve's leg. The bleeding wasn't too bad. The bullet had went through her skin and a little muscle, basically just colliding briefly with her thigh. The bullet wasn't lodged in her leg or anything, thankfully. We didn't even bother looking for it.

After Fang and Iggy had moved the Erasers into the elevator and LIFTED TWO WALLETS, we had hoped onto the metrorail and went. Eve didn't need a hospital, she just needed her bleeding to stop.

Jonah stood on the opposite side of the train, watching Eve and Mary. Even though his eyes were wide-open, he looked like he wasn't awake. I wasn't about to wake him up, either.

Gazzy tied the strap of cloth around Eve's too-small thigh and stepped back. My flock were all sitting down, watching sadly.

This was going to make our fun day in D.C. a nightmare.

Eve's eyes snapped open and she looked around and met Mary's eyes. Mary burst out in another round of tears. Eve whispered her name and winced while she sat up. Mary cradled Eve in her arms, stroking her head (minus the cap. Angel was holding it.) and crying softly.

Fang watched them, looking sadder than he'd been in awhile. This sucked.

"Is she okay?" Nudge asked, looking at Mary then me. Mary didn't respond and I couldn't find an answer, but Angel spoke up.

"I can't really read her mind, but I can feel what she's feeling. She's in some pain, but she's... feeling like herself," Angel looked confused for a second but then smiled. "She'll be okay."

Mary sighed and rested her head over Eve's. The skinny, bald and surprisingly tough girl went to sleep. The mood on the train shifted and I leaned against Fang. Nudge and Angel started playing rock, paper, scissors but guess who won each time.

Gazzy and Iggy talked about how they wished they'd brought some bombs to blow up the "screw-balls" back at the station. I glared at Gazzy who shut up immediately, but of course Iggy kept talking. "I'm glaring at you, Iggy."

He sighed and mumbled something about fun-sucking again. I ignored it. Fang's warm hand went around mine and I let all the tension I had been feeling go. I was with Fang right now, with my flock, and Eve was going to be okay.

_Just breathe, Max. _

But it was SO much fun to punch someone again.

_Just breathe._

And that double-fist thing I did to that bastard's head! YEAH!

_Just BREATHE._

My roundhouse kick was SO-

_MAX! SHUT THE HELL UP!_

Okay, okay, conscience. Fine.

* * *

**Also, I drew a few pictures of my OCs... I guess that's what I'd call them, yeah... so if you'd like to see them, just tell me in a review and I'll post something with a link to my DA account so you can check it out. I'm not a bad artist, trust me. I can do most things pretty well or average, but drawing is what I'm waaaay above average at.**

**Just ask! I hope you liked this chapter- if there are any questions regarding the fight scene, like what the hell happened more specifically, just ask and I'll PM you.**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH! Reviews would be an AMAZING motivator, since I'm getting sort of tired of writing six pages of size 10 font in Microsoft Word all the time.**

**Please review! I hope you liked this!! I REALLY DO! THANK YOU SO MUCH!**


	10. One VERY Long Day

**Ok. So, to put it lightly, semi-epic chapter.**

**The flock has a DARN GOOD OLE' TIME terrorizing D.C. and this chaptie was very refreshing to write. **

**... I'm trying to summarize this story in a few not-too-revealing words, but too much happens, so I won't try. Happy blow-shit-up/Independance Day my fellow Americanos! If you're not from the USA and are reading this, happy fourth of July! Yaaaay... -cough- anyhoo...**

**Chapter 10! Ohmygod. I made it to the 10 marker. I deserve a party and lots of Lindor Truffles (dark chocolate) for this! Hah!**

**Alrighty, I won't bother you guys longer- and I'll tell you ahead of time, I'm assuming that Max will have babies, not lay eggs, so she's going to have boobs. If she's an egg-layer, why would she need them? Ohhh. Stumped you...!**

**Thank you all so much for reviewing! I really love hearing them!! Enjoy my tenth chapter of _Just Like Flying!_**

**Thanks!**

* * *

We got off the metro rail at the Smithsonian around nine. The sky was a perfect, clear blue with enough cloud cover to give some occasional shade.

Eve was walking fine, but Mary kept propping her up with her shoulder. Mary looked a little anxious and had told me on the train, "I've never been around this many people." The sardine can had gotten pretty freaking packed within the forty-five minutes we were on it, and I had been getting nervous, too.

I hate crowds.

Anyway, we got off at the Smithsonian stop and went up to ground level. I'll tell you once and I'll never repeat myself ever again: IT WAS HOT. The flock automatically groaned when the wave of dry heat swept over us.

"It's like an oven!" Nudge fanned herself with her hands.

"At least its not humid. I'd take an oven over a sauna any day..." Iggy added, using a pamphlet he had found on the train to fan himself. Mary exhaled and looked around. She walked away from Eve and picked up a pencil. Doing some expert maneuver with the stick of wood and graphite, she twisted her long, creamy hair into a bun but left a few stands to cover her scales. They blended in pretty well with her skin and she closed her gills. Mary smiled.

"Ta-da!" She bowed as Eve started laughing. Her laugh sounded musical and I was instantly happier when I heard it. Everyone seemed glad to hear Eve laugh. Fang was even smiling slightly.

Iggy frowned. "What happened?"

"She put her hair up with a pen," Gazzer told him.

"A pencil," Jonah corrected, hugging Eve from behind. She giggled and my eyes wandered to the second piece of cloth we had wrapped around her thigh within the last half hour. The bleeding had stopped and Eve seemed happy again. That was good.

I felt guilty for even letting that happen.

Mary did too, I saw it on her face.

We got breakfast at McDonalds (ew) and headed over to the memorials. Eve had been eyeing them all morning, so Jonah finally asked if we could go sight-seeing.

"But shopping!" Nudge added, begging me.

"Later, Nudgie, later," I told her, heading over to the Washington Monument.

"But I really NEED to go shopping."

"Nudge, it can wait," I said as she moaned from the torture. Fang walked next to me, looking ahead. Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, and the fishies were all about ten feet in front of us. Iggy had SOMEHOW convinced Mary to let him hold onto the back of her shirt for a guide.

Flashback time.

"_Hey, Mary. You're nice and everything, aren't you?" Iggy asked, walking up beside her. Mary glanced at him and looked confused._

"_Sure?" she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear._

"_You want to be my guide?" Iggy asked, smiling like a doofus. Mary saw his expression and burst out laughing. Awkwardness over._

"_I'd be honored." Iggy held onto the back of her shirt and kept on smiling._

End flashback. Haha. Isn't that cute?

We toured the Washington Monument then strolled along the reflection pool (Gazzy jumped in it with bad results) and up to the Lincoln Memorial. Nudge stayed clear of everything and had her arms crossed over her chest. At first I didn't understand it but I remembered the time she had been moved to tears after touching the Vietnam Wall. I frowned. Poor Nudgie.

When we made it up the huge stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, Eve stood staring, slack-jawed-, at the hugeness of the room. She craned her neck backwards to gape at the ceiling then let out a happy squeal. "Mary! Mary!"

She sprinted over to Mary who sat on the steps next to Jonah. They were arguing about something, but I didn't hear them. I was too preoccupied with Fang.

Every now and then, he'd crack a joke. This confused me. Fang was not the cracker-of-jokes kind of person. He was the silent, loner, semi-regular sarcastic in-put sort of guy. I could tell he felt awkward doing it, too, and I wished I knew why.

* * *

After Eve and Angel had their fill of the giant sixteenth president, and after Iggy finally snapped from boredom after a comment from Nudge (_"Oh, wow. Iggy! Look at that!" "I'm trying!") _we decided it was time to find a store to go shopping. Nudge grinned and ran over to a passing stranger. She looked like she was in her pretty twenties, with a long sundress on and a camera over her neck.

"Excuse me, are there any places to go shopping around here?" Nudge asked, flashing a brilliant smile. How charming.

"Oh," the woman said, sort of in awe of her cuteness. "There's a plaza sort of close by... oh, look at you- I'll give you directions, hold on..."

She rummaged through her purse and pulled out a pen and sticky-notes, jotting down the address of somewhere. Nudge continued to smile.

Fang tapped my hand and before my heart could do a mini-flip (it was STILL doing that), he pushed a loose lock of my hair behind my ear. I looked up at him just as a cloud passed overhead. His dark hair fell in front of his chocolate eyes while the sun got a little brighter, giving him a slight halo around his head. I tried not to drool.

_What.A.God._

"Yes?" I asked, putting on my best normal attempt and trying to seem like a cloud just moved out of the sun's way to make a pretty glowing thing of light around my head. Too bad I messed up on my perfect smile. A slight gust of wind knocked another strand of hair in my face and went into my mouth. I coughed it away, gagging slightly.

_I am what you might call "a highly functional autistic."_

Fail.

He laughed, pushing that strand behind my ear as I blushed again. "You seem... tense. What's up?"

I sighed and told him the truth. "Still a little worried about Eve... and did you hear Mary and Jonah earlier?"

"Yeah. Sounded like Mary's still worried, too. You two are really alike..." he trailed off, turning to look over at where Mary, Eve, and Jonah were all sitting. They rested on a bench by the bus-station, not used to this much walking. I watched him gaze in there direction for a second. I was about to ask him something else when Nudge trotted by, smiling brilliantly.

"Let's go!" She barked and went to stand at the bus-stop.

* * *

I didn't know where we were, but we were at some plaza place.

So many clothes stores. They all looked so... _expensive._ My hand went to the wallet in my pocket, clinging to it automatically.

"Ok, flock. This is how we're doing it. Boys, go find stuff. Girls, go find stuff. Fang, I'm giving you a credit card- go nuts-" he rolled his eyes and took it. "-Nudge, since you're the stylista, do you want to help Mary and Eve pick out stuff?"

She smiled at me like I had just given her a million dollars plus a blow pop. "YEAH!"

"Right, team. Meet back here in... an hour. Go!" the boys sighed and walked off. My little band of girly girls on the other hand... well, they had more enthusiasm, to put it lightly.

Nudge grabbed Eve and Mary's hands while Angel jumped up and down behind her. "Eve, you are the cutest thing so I'm sticking you in all the dresses I can find! Mary- with those curves, can you say APPLE BOTTOM JEANS?!"

"Boots with the fur..." Angel did the wave. Mary looked a little confused but Eve was smiling happily, watching Angel and Nudge break out in dance.

This was going to be UBER-FUN! Are you sensing the sarcasm?

..._shortie got low, low, low, low, low, low, low... low... WHAT?!_

* * *

Nudge burst through the store's door, scaring the clerk, with Eve and Mary in tow. She pulled them by their hands and set them off looking around the more feminine clothes. I wandered over to a rack of jeans and plain, boring, but comfortable looking shirts until Angel showed up beside me. "Remember that time Fang said you looked nice looking like a girl?"

I blushed remembering it. "Yes. Why?"

"I'm making you look more like a girl." And that was that.

I followed as my cute, blonde, darling, Angel, pulled out a frilly shirt or pair of jeans every couple feet. Eventually, she had about ten things in her little arms. She beamed at me then before I knew it, I was shoved into a dressing room.

I pulled off my shirt and jeans and stood in front of the mirror. I was so THIN. Pure muscle. My hands went to my chest. I had NO boobs, whatsoever.

I caught myself thinking about Mary's CLEARLY larger bust and shook my head. _Why am I comparing myself to her? Stop it, Max. _I bit my lip and tried on the first shirt of the pile.

It was red and had lace along the neck-line and sleeves. I tried it on. Can you say MOVING TARGET? I moved on to the next one. The simple top had a line of frilly things over where my boobs _should_ be but are _not,_ and draped over my chest and down far on my hips. Believe it or not, it gave me a little bit of a figure. I pictured Fang's hands around my waist, the fabric folding against his arms as he pulled me closer to him... _FOCUS!_

Four failed attempts later, I tried on a pair of khaki capris Angel had selected. They fit well and were just girly enough to make me look sort of cute. I imagined Fang's hands snaking down my back and into the pockets... and I silently slipped them into the "good" pile.

There were three sets of extremely girly lingerie. I sighed, knowing I needed that stuff, and tossed them on the good pile.

After going through everything, I stumbled out of the dressing rooms with the rejects in one hand and the good-stuff in the other. I put the crappy ones on the return-rack and walked down the aisle. Nudge stood by the entrance to the dressing rooms, waiting impatiently.

"What are you-" before I could finish my sentence, a door whipped open and slammed into my face. I jumped back, trying not to drop the clothes, and ignored the pain building in my nose. I looked up and saw Eve walk out of the dressing room.

She had on a sky blue dress that went below her knees. The sleeves were cut low on her shoulders and went down far on her hands. It was pretty snug around her arms but loose everywhere else. The dress hung from a line of lace at her neck/shoulder line thingy and didn't hug her body at all.

Eve looked like a doll. Cute, frilly, and cute.

She tilted her head (plus the baseball cap/wig) and looked at herself in the mirror. Nudge started giggling by the door. "YOU LOOK ADORABLE! OH MY GOSH- Max, can we buy it? Please?"

"What? No- she couldn't wear that without drawing attention," I argued as Mary walked out of the dressing room at the end of the hallway, looking down at herself.

She was wearing an equally frilly but tighter pink dress with way too many ruffles in way too many places. Mary looked up at us, frowning. "It's creepy."

"It's unique," Nudge replied, clapping her hands together. Angel walked in next, holding a small cluster of clothes for herself. She looked at Eve.

"Oh...!" then she looked at Mary. "...my..."

Mary sighed. "See? I look like a Victorian prostitute."

"... true..." Nudge mumbled. Mary shuffled back into the dressing room to try something else on. Eve tugged on my shirt and I looked at her. She was so cute in that dress with her baseball cap. I wanted to hug her but resisted the urge. "No?"

She was referring to the dress. I thought about it briefly and was about to say no when Nudge walked up behind Eve and pet her head. _ADORABLE!_

"Please, Max? She's just so cute in it," Nudge smiled at me, knowing she would win.

And she did.

I stood at the register, less than pleased, while the cashier-in-training frantically rang up our shirts, a dress, frilly under-stuff, and four different pairs of pants. When she was finished, I wanted to put Mary and Eve in their new clothes as soon as possible, so I asked her if they could go put them on in the dressing room. The cashier agreed and Mary took Eve away to change.

Just then I heard the door swing open followed by Gazzy's laughter. The boys filed into the women's clothing store very loudly, all holding one bag of clothes each (I thought briefly about how everything Fang bought must be black. Maybe navy blue for a change...). Every head swiveled to look at them suspiciously. "Max! Look what we found for Jonah!"

I looked at Jonah. He was wearing a dark green turtleneck and did NOT seem happy about it.

"It's freaking hot out there," was all he said.

Gazzy whispered something to me and winked. "He's colorblind."

Fang and Jonah looked around the store, trying to find our two missing girls, and noticed the huge selection of lingerie in the corner. I saw them both blush, eying the bras.

_Sexist perverts. Too bad Iggy can't see. He's the worst._

Gazzy reached forward and grabbed a bag from my hand while I was looking back at the dressing room, seeing if Mary or Eve were walking out yet. But then I realized something- he had grabbed the bag with MY stuff in it.

Lingerie and all.

"That's m-mine!" I stammered, trying to snatch it back but ended up pulling it out of his hands. The bag fell to the floor in what felt like slow-motion and a hot-pink, lacey bra (albeit, small bra) and matching underwear fell out of it.

The group got quiet.

I think my face was about the shade of a tomato...

* * *

I stared at the set of... I can NOT believe I'm using this word... lingerie... that had fallen out of the bag, Max's bag.

Hot-pink. And lace. Why does she do this to me?

I looked at her face and saw the color flush in. About seven seconds went by before she lunged down, shoved them in the bag, and trotted back to the dressing room. I heard her ask "ARE YOU TWO DONE?!" but was too busy getting my mind under control.

I imagined Max wearing those. JUST those. The usual thing happened.

My jeans got tight-

"Is it weird in here or is it just me?" Iggy asked Jonah who was looking embarrassed like the rest of us.

"It's just you," was the collective answer.

Angel and Nudge had been gone the whole time, still browsing at clothes over by the door. Max walked up, didn't make eye-contact with any of us, and headed out the door. Mary and Eve went behind her, both of them wearing turtlenecks. Mary's was pink, Eve's was blue. Pink looked good on Mary and blue was really cute on Eve. Pink looked good on Max's face, too.

And I was turned-on.

But anyway...

* * *

After the lingerie incident, my flock and the fishiest fish-fish followed me outside and into the plaza. I heard them talking about where to eat lunch when I saw- HALLELUJAH- a pay-phone!

Okay, so there are tons of them everywhere. But I finally remembered why I needed one!

I ran over to it and immediately dialed the long distance number of my "mother's" house. The phone rang two times before I heard Mom's voice.

"Hello?" she said. I missed her so much!

"MOM!" I practically screamed into the phone.

"MAX! Where are you? Are you guys okay?" she sounded so concerned about us. I felt home-sick.

"We're fine, Mom. And we're in... a city. We just bought some new clothes and we're going to go get lunch. Are you holding up back home?" I asked, smiling.

"Oh, yeah. You know- business as usual. Ella's at a friend's house- I wish she were here to talk to you... I'll just tell her you said hi, ok?"

"That'd be great, Mom. So... well, I have to go... I'm kind of..." I spun around. My flock were all standing really close to me, listening in. I covered the receiver with my hand and shooed them. They shook no. I sighed. "-surrounded by the flock. They wanna say hi."

I held up the phone and I think the line might have shorted out after they all screamed hi at once. Other people in the plaza turned to look at us. "Mom, it's been great talking but I have to go- I love you."

"I love you to, Max. Call more often! I'm worried about you."

"I know, Mom. Bye." I hung up the phone, a little sad about how I was worrying her. I could hear it in her voice- she had been stressing. I felt bad, to say the least. But I couldn't feel home-sick right now. Looking at my flock, I smiled and pretended to be Invincible Max.

"Who wants lunch?"

My flock was hungry.

VERY hungry.

We assaulted a burger-joint down-town and pushed three tables together. We settled in and devoured our first burgers. By the time I was on my second, Nudge spoke up. When does she not speak up? "Can we stay in D.C. tonight, Max? We just had the most awesome-" she glanced at Eve, rethinking her use of words. "-shopping trip and stuff. Can we stay in a hotel or something? Please?"

"No." I answered immediately, not really thinking about it. Nudge started to complain, listing reasons why we should and I agreed with them all. She said that Eve need a bed to sleep in, not a car-seat. True. Nudge pointed out that a hotel would be safer than a van and a trip back to it on the metrorail. Also true. Gazzy pointed out how much he loved hotels. Okay, sure. Angel added how that would top off a really good day. I gave in to the cuteness and agreed.

And the crowd went WILD.

* * *

We found a hotel overlooking the river that ran through D.C. The windows seemed breakable, which pretty much sealed the deal for us.

Max used the information from one of the Eraser's wallets (apparently he need fake I.D. and stuff? And hey, I thought they were all retired anyway... guess not.) to get us a room.

... not US a room. Like... me and Max... we're not... like... FLOCK US... wait, no... that sounds weird... _get a grip, Fang._

The flock and the fishies were all going to share a room. The man at the front desk told us our room would include a king-sized bed, two twin bunk-beds, and a couch. Enough for everyone to sleep in if they squeezed together. Max didn't want to risk separate rooms after this morning's fight.

Max unlocked the door and Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy all ran inside. Iggy clung to the back of Mary's shirt. By this time, they were getting pretty friendly. They had been talking consistently for the past few hours and Mary had warmed up to Iggy, who was thrilled that she was getting used to him. Jonah went in and I was last, closing the door behind me.

The room was really funky looking. Just... funky. Kind of awesome, in the weird, retro, "bring back the 80s" kind of way.

"Jonah, Mary, and Eve- you guys take the big-bed," Max started rolling out orders for sleeping arrangements. I sat down on a big, squishy chair by the window and watched as her hair shifted in the light while she tried to pull tangles out of it with her fingers. Max got blonder in the summer, making her hair a little more bronzy. I liked the color. It was pretty on Max. Brought out her freckles and her eyes. I liked them, too.

I liked Max. A lot.

"Nudge and Angel, you guys share one of the bunk-beds. Gazzy, you take the chair Fang is sitting in. Iggy, you can have the last bunk-bed. All six feet and three inches of you."

"Right..." Iggy sighed, feeling his way over to the minibar. He paused and looked over his shoulder at us, grimacing. "Is the carpet _really lime green?_"

"The limiest," I answered him. He shrugged and went through the snacks.

Wait. Me and Max were going to be sharing the couch...

When the clock struck five, Max ordered eight boxes of large pizza. The flock had settled in and Nudge, Eve, and Angel were on their second pay-per-view movie. Iggy and Gazzy had just left to go play in the arcade downstairs when the arguing coming from the bathroom escalated. Mary and Jonah were getting into it now, so I looked over at Max. She was trying to ignore it, but felt me staring. She gazed at me with those oval, brown eyes and sighed. We stood up and went over to the bathroom.

I opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Max. Mary and Jonah fell silent.

Mary was sitting, cross-legged on the sink. Jonah stood in the corner, drawing pictures on his arm with eye-liner he had found somehow. Max and I sat on the shower rim, waiting for them to explain. When they didn't, I asked. "What's going on?"

"I'm ticked off," Mary started braiding her hair. It was really long stuff, but she moved quick.

"Obviously," Jonah snorted, rolling his eyes. She glared at him.

"What's your problem? First, you tell me to stop worrying so much about Eve- they put a GUN to her head, Jonah," she spoke in loud whispers, frantically braiding her hair. She finished one side and moved on to the other. "And now you're mad at me because I got mad at you because you weren't worried like I was worried-"

"I get it." Jonah finished a cloud on his wrist.

"No, you don't! They could have killed EVE. My Eve! Your Eve! The little girl we've cared for since we were three! Since we were little! Why are you not mad?"

"I AM mad, Mary. I'm worried about it, too."

"But you told me to forget about it!"

"I was just trying to get you to calm down! She isn't even hurt that bad, Mary! And we both tried to protect her so-"

"How well did that-"

"Stop it," Max mumbled, glaring at both of them. They shut up. "It was an accident. She's okay now. I won't let it happen again."

Max stood up, looking a little sad. I stood up and took her hand. Only she noticed, but didn't swoon or anything like she had been doing all day. Yes, I could tell when I made her nervous. It was so freaking cute.

"Why would they do that to Eve... why her?" Mary put her head in her hands, leaving her unfinished braid to twist undone over her shoulder. "Why not me..."

"Because she's more valuable," Jonah answered, looking guilt-ridden. Mary looked up, glaring at him.

"I don't care if she's more valuable than I am! Wouldn't it make more sense not to hurt her if she's more important?" Mary mumbled, finishing her braid. Max stood completely still at my side. I tightened my grip on her hand and put my other hand on the small of her back. She didn't move, but I felt her skin shake.

Jonah looked up, looking at nothing in particular. "They used her to threaten us because they thought you knew. She's pregnant."

* * *

**Ohhhh. Cliff-hanger. Plot-twist.**

**Oh snap! What next?! When will it end? **

**Oh, and I want a few more pictures before I give out the link, so just be patient for the fan-art, ok? And I drew a REALLY cute Fax pic... ah!**

**I wish I could add more commentary, but it is 11:57 pm and I want to post this TONIGHT. Not early tomorrow MORNING, so yeah! I hope you liked! **

**Review? Hug? PM? Anything? LOVE YOU!**

**Edit: I had just posted this at 11:58 p.m. when I previewed and saw a mistake I just HAD to fix. So technically, I posted this chapter twice... lol? -annoyed by stupidness-**


	11. One VERY Long Evening

* * *

**Okay! I seemed to have freaked out a few of my reviewers (_earlier: ... -reading reviews- ...ROFLMFAO!_) but this chapter will clarify any, if not all, questions you have asked. Even the sick ones you dared to think.**

**Yes, you.**

**And did you guys hear about the fifth Maximum Ride yet?! I went on wikipedia because I couldn't remember what color Gazzy's wings were and saw under the plot section for each book that the fifth one will be called WATER WINGS! **

_**My reaction: ... Water.. Wings... OHMYGOD! JAMES PATTERSON- YOU BITCH! STOP COPYING ME!**_

**But really, I read the plot summary (just Google _Water Wings Maximum Ride_ and you'll find something) and what I have planned and what Amazon said Patterson had planned, are two different things. **

**So at least he's not copying me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...  
**

**And about the pictures... nyeh... keep waiting. I'm planning on doing a group one of the fishies, a few Fax ones, and I've felt like drawing frilly things lately (see last chapter) so I might draw those dresses I described. I just want a decent gallery before I show anyone... don't get your expectations TOO high.  
**

**Okay! Enough blabber-talk-babbling. Thank you for reading and reviewing! MUCHO AMOR MIS AMIGOS! GRACIAS!**

* * *

I had been sitting back down, aiming for the bath-tub's ridge, when Jonah said the two words that caught me completely off guard.

"... She's pregnant."

My body froze up and I missed the ridge, slipped, and landed in the bath. I sat up immediately and looked over at Fang's face, then Mary's. Shock, shocked rage.

_Not good._

"She's WAY too young to be pregnant," was Mary's first reaction.

"Technically, but physically, she's about fourteen, remember? We age a lot faster than normal humans," Jonah replied, still not looking at anyone. He had gone into auto-pilot again- just relaying the facts.

"That's ridiculous. She's still too youn-"

"Girls used to have babies at twelve, Mary. Fourteen is perfect, according to Neil."

"Neil? He did... don't you DARE say his name around me!" Mary covered her ears with her hands then got off the sink. She bent over and I heard her start to cry. I wondered who Neil was, but it was getting sort of loud and I wasn't sure I wanted the flock to be hearing this, so I leaned out the door.

"Guys, go to the arcade, ok? Take some money with you. I'll come get you in a little while," I told half of my flock. Angel was silently putting two-and-two together. Nudge had heard something, and seemed like she was thinking, too.

Eve sat on the floor quietly, still watching the movie. She didn't turn around.

Nudge took her hand and helped her up. Angel, Eve, and Nudge left the room, closing the door behind them. When our audience was gone, Fang asked a question.

"How long have you known that?"

Jonah pressed his palms to his temples and exhaled loudly. Mary was still bent over, her head in her lap, crying softly. "Ok... it's complicated... don't say a word until I'm done."

Fang and I nodded. Mary stopped crying but didn't move. "About a year ago, when she was six but physically thirteen, they tried to get her pregnant. Uh... all the white-coats really knew was... that Mary's infertile, and Eve's not. So, they decided to see if she could hold a pregnancy. And she did for a whole month. They... terminated... the baby because... it was just a test that Eve had passed. They didn't want a child out of it."

I didn't know if he was done, so I didn't speak. I just sat in stunned silence with Fang's hand on my shoulder. There was quiet for about fifteen seconds before Mary looked up at him. Her eyes were red and her face, too. Her cheeks were damp. "How long has she been carrying this one?"

"Eight weeks by now," Jonah answered, finally making eye contact with her. She stared at him, confused. Then realization dawned over her face, followed by rage.

"While they starved her?" she asked, her mouth open in horror. I closed my eyes, thinking about it.

They starved her while she was pregnant.

I opened my eyes and saw Jonah look at me. He started to talk, not looking away. "They got creative that time. Eve was made to survive an apocalypse and still have babies. The white-coats wanted to see if she could conceive during a simulated famine and she did before her vitals got too low and they had to feed her again."

"But she never got hungry," Mary whispered, sitting back against the sink. "That day... she just collapsed."

Jonah watched Mary, looking sad. Then he went back into auto-pilot mode. "I don't know why Eve doesn't get hungry, she just doesn't. But she went eight days without food and still held onto that baby."

Mary's fists clenched and she looked up at him, enraged. "Why didn't you TELL me?!"

He seemed hurt, but I'd be mad at him, too. "... it would have hurt you."

"DUH! But this is worse! You don't trust me enough to tell me-"

"-It's not about trust, Mary-"

"-and then you like... like... _expect_ me to be okay with seeing a freaking BUMP on her stomach and wonder how the hell it got there?"

"I was trying to protect you and Eve!"

"How is lying protection?"

"Because I thought I could handle it on my own!" Jonah grabbed Mary by her shoulders. She was already standing, fists at her side, screaming in his face. The moment he touched her, she quieted down and gasped. That gasp turned into a sob and her eyes filled with tears.

I couldn't watch this. I tried to turn to leave but Fang was blocking the door. He wasn't doing it on purpose but he didn't move either. I stared at him, screaming, "Get out of my way" with my eyes but he wouldn't budge.

_We're all so stubborn. _

Fang wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me by his chest. I didn't try to move away even though I wanted space at that time. I watched Mary crumple to her knees, with Jonah's hands on her upper arms.

"Mary, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react like this," she sobbed a little and he sat down beside her and put his chin on her head. "I'm sorry, Mary. I'm really sorry."

She kept on crying and I decided it was time to clear out.

* * *

I couldn't believe what I had heard.

That little girl was _pregnant._

Who would do that to a seven-year old? _The sickos at the School, genius._

I felt Max turn under my arm and her hand went to the door-knob. She was ready to go but I still had a question to ask. Even though Mary was border-line hysterical and Jonah looked ready to throw himself off a cliff from guilt, I had to ask that question.

"Who's the father?"

Jonah and Mary looked at me like they didn't understand the question. Mary seemed confused, then terrified and spun around. "Who is it?" She sounded desperate.

Jonah's voice was strained. "Mary, if I could tell you, I would. But I don't know. Everything was artificial, so it could be anyone."

She wasn't satisfied with that answer. Mary stared at him harder, then closed her eyes and looked away. Max shrugged my arm off her shoulder and opened the door. She clearly wanted to be alone so I stepped out of the way, letting her rush out as I stood by the sink for longer than was necessary.

"Is it you...?" Mary asked Jonah, near a whisper.

The question made me shudder but the answer made my skin crawl. "If I could tell you... but I don't know."

I closed the door behind me without even a click.

* * *

I was sitting on the couch, arms folded over my chest, when Fang finally decided to join me. He had closed the bathroom door and stood there for about two minutes. Maybe he had been listening to what Mary and Jonah were saying inside, but I doubted it. All I heard was her gasping sob every now and then.

He came over and sat next to me on the other side of the couch. I ignored him.

I don't know why I was treating him like this, but I wanted to treat everyone badly after what I had listened to.

I could feel Fang look at me, but I refused to make eye contact. I stared straight ahead and glared at the TV. I heard him sigh, then the phone rang. When I didn't budge, he answered it on the third ring.

"Hello? ... Yeah, okay. Sure." He hung up the phone and spoke to me. "Pizza's here."

When I didn't reply in any way, shape, or form, he walked over and stood in front of me. I kept staring ahead, only his crotch was blocking the TV. _Nice view- and I don't mean the television._

"You're blocking the TV."

"The TV isn't on."

"... yeah..." my breathing went all weird and I could tell I was about to cry. Fang sighed and sat down next to me, putting my head on his chest. _Stupid, Max. Stop crying! What is wrong with you lately?_

I muffled the weird sound I was about to make with his shoulder. Fang put his arms around me and held me really tight. He was so warm, so alive. I could hear his heartbeat. I refused to cry in front of him. Not now.

But I wanted to cry. Really, _really _badly. _Hadn't they done enough to Eve?_

I heard another sob escape from the bathroom. I laced my fingers through Fang's and I stood up, bringing him with me.

"You okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned. I nodded and told him I was going to go get the pizzas by myself. He paid no attention to my attempt at distancing him and followed me anyway.

I silently thanked him by holding his hand while I fanned myself with my other one, trying to cool the red out of my face.

The flock couldn't see my crying. _Invincible Max._

* * *

By the time I had paid the acne-ridden teenage boy in the gallery for the pizzas, my flock were all waiting for me. We piled into the elevator, comfortably claustrophobic, and I concentrated on the sound of Nudge laughing and Iggy cracking jokes. Gazzy mentioned something about feather duster's flammability when Fang shot him a glare, doing my job.

I smiled.

_Normalcy returning! How relieving._

When we got back to the room on the fourth floor five minutes after we had left, Mary and Jonah were sitting on the couch, watching the movie that had been playing when I told the girls to leave earlier. Mary turned around and smiled. Jonah turned, too, but didn't look as happy. He had pulled his hair back into a ponytail.I laughed. "Nice hair, pony-boy."

He smiled, relaxing a little. "Likewise, fuzz-ball."

_Ok, so dry-heat is NOT the best thing for my hair. _I stuck my tongue out at him and piled the pizzas on the small table behind the couch. Each member of my flock had their own pizza. The fishies, however, had insisted that a large would be enough for the three of them. I wasn't about to go, "NO, NO. Have the last one," with Nudge, Fang, and Iggy and their bottomless stomachs hovering behind me, waiting for their share.

We all ate in peace, laughing and making jokes about the really terrible romantic comedy that was playing on the TV.

"So why is he late again?" Fang asked, stuffing half a slice of pizza in his face.

"The girl he loves is getting married to his brother and his car is out of gas," I told him, eating my pizza a little more slowly.

"Oh, so that justifies the hit and run?" Jonah mumbled, watching the movie then staring at his remaining third slice of pizza. He frowned and put his hands up in defeat. Mary finished it for him. She had been forcing Eve to eat for the past ten minutes. Bored, Eve would stuff half a slice in her mouth at a time, chew for a full minute, swallow, and repeat the process until she was thoroughly annoyed and refused to eat anymore. Nudge laughed, watching her each time.

What I really found hilarious was watching Iggy poke the screen. "Hey. Strawberry-blond dude, stop hijacking cars."

Mary got a good laugh out of that one- Iggy smiled, happy to hear her laughter. He started asking her random questions, like if she were held up in a bank by a robber with no left leg, how she would take him down.

"Uh... kick his left leg?" she answered, braiding her hair again.

"But he doesn't have one," Iggy told her, smiling.

"Wait, does he have a stumpy thing?"

"... sure."

"That's what I mean. I'd kick that."

"But he can't feel it so what's the point?"

"... I'd kick it so he'd loose his balance and fall over."

"Why don't you just punch him in the nose?"

"... are you enjoying this?"

"Very.Much.So."

After my little flock and guests polished off the pizza and the movie finished, I looked at the clock. Nine p.m. A little early for sleep, but I figured some rest would be good. My theory is _early to bed, early to rise. _The flock secretly hated that philosophy, but I got a kick out of it anyway.

"Bed soon," I told them as Gazzy flipped through the TV channels. Nudge was French-braiding Angel's hair next to Fang's feet. Fang sat on the chair by the window, looking bored and tired. Jonah was passed out on the king-sized bed, very tired. Iggy was chatting up Mary who seemed to think he was THE funniest thing on the planet and Gazzy was absolutely mesmerized by a "how-its-made" show on fireworks.

I glared at the host of the show. _Give him any ideas, and I swear..._

I ran my fingers through my hair and decided (ew) that it was time for a much needed shower. I went over to the bathroom, taking my new clothes with me, closed the door, and started undressing.

The over-head fan buzzed and I cut the shower on. I stepped in and let the water run over my head, shoulders, and down my back, between my wings. _Warm and soothing. _

I used the little bottle of crappy shampoo to do my hair and the feathers that were covered in dirt or god-knows-what-else. I applied the whole thing of conditioner to my head, thinking about Jonah's "fuzz-ball" comment.

When I was done, I cut off the water, stepped out and folded a towel around my body, carefully tucking the ends in so it would stay up without being held onto. I looked at myself in the mirror. _I'm thin. I'm tan. I have freckles. My eyes are a pretty brown. My hair gets darker when its wet. I have sunburn on my nose. My chest is non-existent. Why am I doing this again?_

I literally slapped myself and put lotion on my face and legs. Dry-heat equals dry-skin! Go figure, right?

I put on that frilly shirt I had bought and my new Capri thingies and stepped out of the bathroom. Most of the flock was still doing what they had been before I left and I was relieved to see my Angel and Nudgie had gone to bed. Iggy was sitting at the little table, talking to Mary still. She seemed really happy. I was glad that Iggy was doing that for her- she needed more happiness right now.

Gazzy was animatedly explaining to Eve the game of go-fish. Then I guess he realized she couldn't ask him "got any threes?" and gave up.

I sat down on the couch next to Fang who was reading a catalog. _You know how to live it up, Fang. _He looked at me as I scooted up next to him, snooping over his shoulder. It was a JCPenny's catalog and he was browsing the men's section, his hand over a blue shirt and NOT a black one. I smirked, seeing my opening.

"Feeling risky?" I smiled, playing with him. He gave me his wonderful half-smile that made the world seem 10x brighter and I felt my stomach flip. Then I became aware of where my hand was.

_ON HIS THIGH NEAR THAT PLACE._

I subtly moved it away, playing cool, smooth Max. I fail at that, too.

My hand jerked up and flipped the catalog, landing it upside down on his lap. He blinked then started laughing. "Feeling jumpy?"

I elbowed him and he stopped laughing. We both heard noise behind us and craned our necks to look. Mary and Iggy had stood up. At least Mary was acting happier- she might have really been feeling better, too. She mumbled, "Good-night," smiling.

Beaming, he said, "Great-night."

She laughed and went to bed, dragging a very tired Eve with her. Iggy watched her walk ten feet away and slip into the other room. He sighed. Gazzy looked annoyed seeing his only entertainment get dragged off and decided to go to bed, too. He jumped up into the chair and glared at Fang and me.

"Bed. Now," he told us and I arched an eyebrow. _Yeah, right, Gazzer. _Iggy floated back to the other room and into his bunk-bed.

_Floated._

I stood up and said I'd be back in a few minutes, that I just wanted some air. Fang followed me, saying he wasn't tired yet. He was obviously lying but I let him come with me anyway.

He closed the door behind us and we walked down the too-bright hall in silence. When we got to the end, I looked out the window. The view was pretty limited, but the street below was lit with cars driving by. I even saw a limousine.

Something touched me from behind. It was Fang. His arms went around my waist and I blushed, realizing we were alone. His arms folded the fabric of my shirt... reminding me of something... I don't remember what though... and he rested his head on my shoulder.

"You look cute," he told me, his breath hitting the skin on my neck. I tried not to shiver from the feeling but failed. He laughed a little, making my blush deepen.

"Thanks. You look emo," I told him, smirking. The bloggers told him that all the time. He really didn't like that word. He muttered something and I started laughing, knowing I had won that round.

Suddenly, Fang's lips were on my ear, shocking me into silence. "I like that bra, by the way. And the way you smell when you shower."

I was wearing the pink one that fell out of my bag and... when I shower? That's a two-sided compliment, my friends. I stammered, embarrassed, and tried to form WORDS with my MOUTH.

_Harder.Than.It.Looks._

He smiled and spun me around so that my front was pressed against his. My arms fell at my side while I pouted, looking annoyed but really thrilled inside. _I look cute! I LOOK CUTE! I'm CUTE!_

Fang's hands slid in the pockets of my capris. My stomach flipped at feeling his hands on my _BUTT _as he smirked at me. It was sort of... sexy.

Then his lips met mine and the electricity set every last one of my nerve-endings on fire. I stupidly brought my hands up, surprised, and folded them over his shoulders. He pushed me up against the window and moved his head, deepening the kiss, making us closer.

I loved being with Fang like this. The best part is, I was starting to get used to us. Used to kissing, holding his hand, feeling his heartbeat in perfect timing with mine. I wasn't even worried about the flock's thoughts anymore. They had seemed to accept it, which had made me happier than anyone could understand.

Fang was NOT my brother. He was... mine. _The way I feel about him isn't creepy! Yay!_

Just as I was really starting to get into it, I heard about six horns outside. We both broke the kiss to look and saw people cheering in the streets, pointing in our direction and clapping.

_Oh.My.God._

We rushed back to the room, silently humiliated.

_Feeling risky?_

* * *

**Okay. So.  
**

**-inhale- That was a lot to go through. I hope that everyone understood and are following the plot without much wandering away from it. **

**Uh... not much to say... except... THANK YOU FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW IFREAKINGLOVEYOUGUYS.**

* * *


	12. Short and Sweet

**I've been working on a little side project... a one-shot called "Cheers!". It's a work in progress and I've been doing research for it (i.e. reading other people's lemon scenes to see how its done ROFL) so that's been consuming some of the time I usually spend writing this story! **

**Sorry. This is a short chapter, but its been two days and figured I'd give you SOMETHING.**

**I kind of went into a different character of Max... it's still her, but very vulnerable. Tired. Vulnerable. School-girlish.**

**Oh well. Enjoy!**

* * *

_I wish I had bought some freaking pajamas or something._

Was my only thought as I wiggled around on the couch, trying to get comfortable.

The flock were all asleep in their separate areas and I was glad for the comforting silence, but not so much the uncomfortable clothes. I flipped onto my side, jabbing my feet out in frustration and accidentally kicking Fang in the shoulder.

"Fuck, Max. Ow," he mumbled, poking me back. I whispered 'sorry, Fang.' with real sincerity, figuring that probably _did _hurt a little. He doesn't drop the F-bomb that often. Not even with Erasers or perverts on the street, but especially not with me.

Fang's head was on one end of the couch, mine on the other. He was taller, so I had the joy of his feet in my face. I was shorter, so he had to live with my feet digging into his shoulder or chest, depending on my position.

Which changed again. I flipped over, onto my stomach, and heard Fang curse as my ankle connected with his chin. _Whoops._

"Sorry, Fa...Faaa...ang... Fang?" stuttering, I felt him slip off the couch and onto the floor. Was he going to sleep there? "Are you going to sleep there?"

He didn't respond. I didn't know where he was actually. "Fang?"

Suddenly, two strong arms were on either side of me. I was still lying on my stomach, so I tilted my head back to try and see where he was. No such luck but I could tell he was above me. The room was pitch-black.

_Even the mountains of West Virginia at night have more pigment than this. _

One of the strong hands held onto my arm, effectively rolling me over as Fang slid in behind me, pressing himself to the couch. When he was done getting adjusted, he rolled me back over so that we were both sleeping on our sides. His right arm was over my shoulder, holding lightly on my wrist. Our bodies molded together in this position- a perfect fit.

I tried not to blush, like it mattered. This room was D-A-R-K.

Fang sighed, relaxing. His breath tickled the back of my neck, puffing a lock of my hair across my skin. I shivered involuntarily, feeling the electricity and warmth of Fang pressed against my back, my butt, and my legs.

_This is so peaceful_, I thought. _This has to be right._

Slowly, Fang moved a little and kissed my cheek. The electricity flowed into my skin and I smiled, happy that he was there.

_I'm safe with Fang. Could anything ever feel better than this? Just this?_

I reminded myself of how perfectly we were fitting together, and then the words crossed my mind just as the haze of sleep slipped in.

_I really love you, Fang. I just do. "I love you."_

He tensed behind me, and I wasn't sure why. But without giving much thought to it, I slept, tired and glad for the rest after such a long day and evening.

* * *

**Right. Very short.**

**But my usual six-page-size-ten-TrebuchetMS-font romps in Word are really taking a toll on my psyche and mental-health, so from now on expect the chapters to be less or about half of the usual length.**

**Sorry! And to those of you out there who'd rather have the chapters big with lots going on, I say suck it. You try five to six pages every two days AND naming the chapter. **

**OK! Thank you guys! Be sure to check out my other stories (just go to my profile) if you're craving extra Faxness. Oh, and here's my youtube name! Add me, please and thank you. (oOmisachanOo) I wish they'd allow URL's in here...  
**

**Thanks! Please review, even though its REAAALLY short. You don't have to though, I don't mind!**

_**And I'm still working on the artwork... blergh. Give it TIME.  
**_


	13. Things Start Moving

**Okay! So... uh... long time no post! Haha... kind of... well, here you go.**

**Not that much Faxness, or should I say _Mangness_, in this chappie but I'm pretty sure something might happen the next one... give me a break, I'm still rethinking my whole outline!**

**Well, won't be posting anything for another two days or so... double-sleepovers lined up for both nights. Okay! **

**Have a good read my awesome buddies! Thanks and review if you can!**

* * *

The ten seconds after Max said those three words, this was my reaction:

_... She's... so... out... of... it... but... oh... my... god... YES._

_...What_? Technically, she did admit that she loved me! Yeah, so what if she passed out ten seconds later? That "I love you" must have come from her deep subconscious, right?

Tell me I'm right. I've never felt this needy...

There she was- beautiful Max- lying besides me and under my arm. I wish I could see her but feeling the heat of her body was just enough to keep me smiling for another half hour before it put me to sleep.

* * *

Rustling. Talking. Laughing. _The flock must be awake..._

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, then realized my arm wasn't moving. Thanks to a certain previous incident involving a chip implanted there, I freaked out when the baseball bat of bone and flesh swung around lifelessly, bringing back old memories. "OH MY GOD!"

Then it tingled. I had just slept on it... slept?

Sleeping... next to... Fang. Where's Fang?

I spun around, looking for him. He wasn't anywhere. Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge were loading up their backpacks with things from the mini-bar while Mary clawed a few knots out of her hair by the window. Jonah was on the chair with his eyes closed and, now that I noticed it, Eve was nowhere to be seen either. Someone was taking a shower- Angel maybe?

"You up?" turning to my left, Fang strutted (yes, _strutted_.) out of the room Nudge, Angel, and Iggy had slept in. He had changed clothes...

No shocker there, but get this: HIS SHIRT WAS BLUE.

And I'm not talking navy blue but actual, semi-bright blue.

I gasped, reeling back in shock. "BLUE?!"

He frowned, looking embarrassed but his eyes were smiling. "I felt like taking a walk on the wild side today."

"Oh. Risky, even for you." In all honesty, that color looked... nice on him. The blue just made him... shine. I smiled, realizing it wasn't just the blue lighting him up. "What's wrong with you? Your happy glow is blinding me."

Fang frowned for real. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" I asked, standing up and adjusting the clothes I had slept in. I wouldn't even have to change.

Fang didn't answer, he just looked away. I was about to ask him again, but the bathroom door opened and Angel walked out, her hair dripping wet, but fully clothed and ready to go. I sighed. She looked so cute in her little sunflower shirt and overalls! The kind of cute only a little girl with mind-manipulating powers could manage...

But then Eve opened the front door and bounced inside. Her skinny arms were fully loaded with four bottles of water and she stumbled as she stepped through the threshold, dropping one to the ground. She bent over to pick it up while she hummed something. I realized she was wearing that incredibly adorable dress Nudge had convinced me to buy her.

Mary started laughing. "Eve, you're so cute!"

Eve smiled, putting the bottles on the table and handing Iggy a dollar. "Good, Iggy?"

Mary, Jonah, and everyone else in the room stopped breathing.

Especially Mary and Jonah. They gaped like, well, fish. Fish without air.

"Oh my god," was all Mary could say.

Eve looked around, confused, then glanced back at Iggy who was the only one with his mouth closed. "Iggy?"

"SHE SAID YOUR NAME!" Mary and Jonah both sprinted forward, hugged her like a child, and proceeded to behave like parents after their baby had just said "cookie." I admit, it was possibly the most remarkably cute thing I have ever seen, but why _Iggy_?

Mary jumped forward and wrapped her arms around the speechless strawberry-blond, planting a small but very genuine kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, beaming, Iggy's face flushed full of color. I tried not to smile, as well as everyone else. They were all watching the happy scene. "Thank you! I don't know how, but thanks!"

They were all laughing now, happy laughter, excited laughter and, to tell you the truth, this had to be in the top five of "best mornings of my life."

...Right below the I-HOP episode two years ago, but I won't go into that...

* * *

"Why you, Iggy?" Mary was obsessed. After taking the bus back to the Smithsonian station, we had just boarded the metrorail. The whole half hour had been nothing but her questioning and excitement.

"Maybe she's getting better... maybe she'll be able to talk again..." Mary mumbled, sitting herself next to Iggy on the train. Let me tell you, he did _not_ mind the attention. Mary had kissed him several times and hugged him too many for me to count. I figured, eh, as long as everyone's happy.

But Jonah had been quietly trying to keep her from getting her hopes up. I understood why. How could he not? Jonah was always trying to protect those two, even if they needed the extra hope. Its not like he was crushing their spirit though, either. He just wanted to keep Mary in reality and Eve from harm.

I looked at the little girl who looked fourteen. We had bought her a new wig yesterday- her hair was still a dark, chocolaty brown in the same style, minus the cap. Under her dress, she wore the turtle-neck, not minding the scorching heat. Eve looked unnaturally adorable. _And she's pregnant. _

Frowning, I tried not to think about that. I tried VERY hard. Eve hadn't seemed bothered after Jonah had told her. She looked like she knew something about it already.

Fang had been quiet though. Really quiet. Four times, I had caught him staring at me, looking sad. I finally asked him on the metro rail after moving to sit by him. "What's wrong?"

"How can you not remember?" immediately, his tone made me frown.

"Remember what?" I said, pulling my windbreaker tight.

"What you said last night..." he looked away again, refusing to make eye-contact with me.

"What did I say?" reaching out, I tilted his head back in my direction. I could see Angel watching out of my peripherals, but I didn't look at her.

"You said you love me," he muttered.

I froze up. Had I...? I vaguely remembered thinking it but had I SAID it? _WHY DO I THINK OUT LOUD?!_

After mentally slapping myself, I glanced back at Fang. For some reason, I wasn't embarrassed. "I don't remember saying that."

"Well, you did," he spat, looking hurt, then annoyed. "Was it true or were you just too out of it to know what was going on?"

Breathing in, I thought about it. Fang loved me... _do I love him? Of course I do! I've been through this before!_ _What am I WAITING for? Another chance to get things wrong?!_

Slowly but surely, I told him. "Of course I do."

And he smiled, kissing me once on the cheek. _Just_ _like electricity... and a promise._

* * *

"Max, I need to talk to you," Mary stood up while I sat beside Fang. He was still smiling from what I had said a few seconds ago and, WOW, was his happiness addicting, but I left him there reluctantly. Mary sounded serious.

We strolled to the end of the train, hopefully out of ear-shot, and I flopped into the seat, wincing when my wing got squashed on a bar. "What's on your mind?"

"Remember when you asked us how we could help your mission? To save the world or something?" all business. Quick and to the point- Mary was good like that.

"Yep," I said, realizing the intensity of her stare. _Ok. She's REALLY serious._

"I did some research on Fang's laptop last night and got an idea. If we can go underwater about 20,000 feet comfortably-" I gaped. That's _deep_ in case you were wondering. That sort of pressure is skull crushing. Mary rolled her eyes at me when she saw my shock. "-S'nots so bad. Gives you aheadache but we can go deeper. Eve can go to about 25,000... but yeah. So, my thoughts were... complicated."

I nodded, not sure where she was going with this. She frowned then gave me a very direct look. "I think our best shot of helping you is to get people interested in helping the ocean."

_... Not bad. Not bad at all... wow. Go Mary._

"You know how the final frontier is supposed to be space? Well, there's two. Space _and _deep-water. No one really knows what's down there and, Max, I love that freaking ocean. I'd do anything to protect it-"

"-Like I'd do to keep flying."

"And I'd do to keep swimming. But no one's paying any attention to it- the pollution, endangered species, ecosystems... you don't hear much, especially in the media. The only way they'd ever take it seriously is if they had _pictures. Evidence. _Things that would make the public go _wow _and sell news," she leaned forward.

"Right. What's your plan?" I leaned forward, too, lowering my voice for some reason.

"My plan is to take my family down deep, come up with something shocking and National Geographic worthy, and save a little bit of the world. How's that sound?"

"Great! But how?"

Mary smirked, widening her pretty smile and full lips, then narrowed her round, icy eyes. "The way I do best. _Persuasion_."

_... What the hell could that mean?_

* * *

"We're WHAT?!" Nudge screeched, making me cover my ears as we drove in the van. Mutant-bird screeches are REALLY loud by the way. Fang swerved a little in the drivers seat, shocked by what I had just said.

Oh, flashback: _"We're going to California." _Flashback over.

The flock gaped at me. Fang stared, eying me suspiciously.

"But that's like... FOREVER AWAY!" Gazzy yelled from the backseat.

"I know, but Mary came up with a really good plan and seems to have worked it out perfectly, so we're going to California," I said, keeping my tone even.

"But that's forever away!" Gazzy repeated.

"Why California, though?" Fang mumbled, flipping on a turn-signal.

"Because Mary found a deep-sea exploration funded by some Cliff guy and wants to help them out."

"Cliff guy?"

"Cliff guy. Some millionaire real-estate tycoon," Mary told him from two-seats back. Eve leaned against her while Mary leaned against Jonah. Jonah seemed surprised by everything but was keeping quiet. Maybe Mary hadn't discussed it with him...

"But all the way to California...?" Fang ran his fingers through his hair, exhaling slowly. "And the gas mileage on this thing isn't exactly... cheap, for lack of a better word."

I love to hear him talk all smart. Its _so_ sexy. _Ha._

"Well, that's just too bad. The boat is leaving in three days, so we have to get there soon," Mary said, smiling.

"THREE DAYS?! BUT THAT'S FOREVER AWAY!" Guess who said that.

"Maybe we could try the fly-and-swim approach," Nudge suggested, looking at me expectantly.

"Fly-and-swim approach? What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Well, we could fly while Mary, Jonah, and Eve went by river or something." I was about to say "no" when someone sighed.

"We could get on at the Ohio," Jonah went into robot-mode. Just listing the facts. _He's like a computer- just knows everything. _"Take the Mississippi down to the Gulf of Mexico all the way North until it just... ends."

Fang blinked. I blinked. That sounded pretty solid.

"But then we'd have to travel by car to Santa Maria which is still pretty far away from the end of the Rio," Mary added, looking out the window and thinking. "But we could always... borrow another vehicle without asking."

She smiled at me. Rolling my eyes, I considered it. That seemed like a pretty solid plan and Mary and Jonah knew their geography, apparently.

"Fly-and-swim approach it is." I turned back to the road but not before noticing Nudge punch her fist into the air.

"BUT THAT'S FOREVER AWAY!" Gazzy squealed one more time.

"SHUT IT," was the rest of the van's answer.

* * *

**Ohh. Things are finally starting to get moving, aren't they? Eve said a new word, Fang and Max are movin' on up, and the mission/plot/whole-reason-this-is-not-a-one-shot is, at long last, gaining a purpose!**

**Alright. I'm gonna go plan this out in my head and get some sleep. I had a VERY long day and I'm getting sick -frowns- but I wanted to get this done anyway, so... yay! **

**Thank you all so much! I hope you liked this!**

**And add my youtube, please and thank you- I want to talk to you guys more regularly, so its going to be h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / o O m i s a c h a n O o just minus the spaces lol**

**And the fanart's almost ready!**


	14. Naked Wonders

**Another semi-shortish chappie.**

**Not much to say... uh... ENJOY!**

* * *

"So, Max."

"Fang?"

"You ready to fly again?"

"_Hell to the yeah_, thanks for asking."

He sighed, turning away to open his door. My group of mutant-freaks unloaded from the van one at a time and lined up by the bridge. I closed the door and slapped my hand on the off-white, scratched surface of the van.

"Thanks for the trip, buddy. We couldn't have done it without you... even though you could have done without Fang's driving skills," I saluted the beast, stepping backwards to stand beside Fang.

He rolled his eyes- my cue to get this party started.

We jumped the fence near the bridge, walking down to the Ohio River that waited below.

"We'll keep up a pace of about ninety miles an hour for two hours, right?" Mary said, twisting her arms left and right, stretching. Eve shed her dress by the shoreline and Nudge took it, hugging her. Jonah was already pulling off his turtle-neck, revealing absolutely _ripped_ muscles hidden under pale, white skin.

"Yep, two hours at ninety," Fang told her, wiggling his wings under his windbreaker. _Geesh, someone's antsy._

"Right. After that, we'll hit the cruise-control and go for about fifty, letting you guys catch up while you're still flying seventy?" Mary asked, arching an eyebrow.

"And when we catch up, you'll flap around or something in the river every couple minutes, letting us know where you are," Iggy answered, already stretching out his wings. Mary gaped at them in awe. Iggy couldn't see her expression, but he was aware that she was looking. _Yeah, spread your wings, Ig. Spread 'em wide, blind-boy._

Mary snapped back to reality... a lot like how I usually do around Fang.

I sighed, thinking about it. _Fang_... _oh, Fang..._

"Then we'll meet up by the shore," Mary finished, bringing me back into focus.

"That's the plan," I smiled and glanced around at my flock. Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel looked all ready to go. Total squirmed under Iggy's shirt, probably scratching him. _At least Fang has to carry Akila the first hour..._

Mary reached over and hugged me, then Fang, then Iggy. She waved at the rest of the flock and went over by the shore where Eve and Jonah sat in the water, waiting. I found it a little weird that they could only swim fastest naked, but said nothing about it when Mary pulled off her turtle-neck in broad-daylight and trotted into the water, bouncing just enough in the right places to make someone standing beside me cough.

Standing next to me, Fang blushed instantly, looking away. The flock wasn't paying much attention. Besides; that impossibly long hair was covering everything he didn't need to see, no matter how large the things that needed covering were...

My chest suddenly felt flatter.

I sighed, pulling out my wings. "SEE YOU!"

"LATER!" the fishies yelled as they ducked under the water, disappearing from sight.

Breathing deeply and unable to resist the urge to smile, I ran a little along the shore, lifted my wings, felt the familiar pull of air on them, and surged into the sky. The younger members of my flock were already soaring ahead, giggling with excitement. Iggy came up beside me and Fang took up the rear, smiling just like Ig and everyone else.

We hadn't flown in days. I did a quick roll to get my bearings back, and settled into a glide when a drift of air lifted me effortlessly. I coasted for a few seconds before it passed, letting the feeling of pure, weightless bliss settle over me then disappear with a gentle, soothing flap of my wings.

_How had I gone more than a day without this?_

* * *

_Today is a nice day_, Eve decided.

She was getting to swim after so long.

Her gills felt a little itchy after being exposed to air, but Mary and Jonah had made her run water through them every few hours to keep them from drying out. They were already starting to feel better.

Eve kicked, surging forward. She swam like any other mammal would- one entire fluid movement with legs together- but went a lot faster. She had given Nudge her fake hair, clothes, and shoes and didn't miss them one bit.

Swimming naked was fun _and _fast.

Mary and Jonah held up beside her, pulling ninety. They could swim as fast as Eve but would never try and race her. Eve was more perfectly designed than Jonah or Mary. Being the 3.0 version of successful ichthyoidal experiments had its benefits.

And its set-backs. At least that's what Neil had told her before her operation.

Neil was the doctor who had designed the two non-human percents of Mary and Jonah and later on made Eve. When he looked at her, she'd taste happiness... pride. But sometimes, his emotions would switch to rejection. Cold, salty rejection.

He'd look at Mary and taste that way.

Eve didn't understand it then and couldn't hope to understand it now. All that remained of Neil were his words. _Mary killed him_, Eve thought without any hint of emotion. _He's dead_. _Dead and gone. _But the words he said still floated through her mind and Mary's. Jonah didn't know. Mary hadn't told him.

She closed her eyes, still swimming at a very fast speed, rushing by fish and river-floor, and thought about Neil.

"You could walk on the Java Trench, Eve," he said one morning. A smaller version of the girl who could still speak in sentences sat in front of the man she used to call 'Father'. Father was his idea. Little Eve blinked, thinking about what he had just said. "But you couldn't come back up without killing yourself."

Eve swam on, arching her spine and legs in one full-body surge. _Today will be nice because swimming is nice_, she thought.

* * *

"There they are!" Gazzy laughed, pointing hundreds of feet below us. My flock and I soared through the low-hanging clouds that passed over the Ohio River. "Hah! They look like dolphins!"

We had been following the river for five hours now and apparently had just caught up to Mary, Jonah, and Eve. I used my super-amazing hawk eye-sight to pick them out.

_Yep_. Jonah was jumping out and into the water every thirty feet, just like a dolphin would.

I did a quick roll, smacking Fang with my feathers. I had to bite my lip to not smile at his face when once poked into his mouth. He puffed it away, flapping his wings extra hard, pushing me down in the air.

My darling Angel clung to Celeste, flying quietly next to me. Nudge and Gazzy had dropped maybe three hundred feet, trying to get a better look at our fish-friends. Iggy flew on his back, obviously lost in Iggy-land.

I don't know WHAT goes on in Iggy-land, but judging by the smile slapped on his face, I didn't want to know.

We flew for two more hours before it finally got to dark for us to see Jonah jumping out of the water. I tucked in my wings and hit hyper-drive, enjoying a few amazing seconds of eye-watering free-fall, and pulled them back out to settle into a glide. I made a running stop on the ground (NOT TRIPPING ONCE. HELL YEAH.) and waited by the shore for the rest of my flock to show.

Fang was second, Iggy third, followed by the rest in order of age.

I looked out at the river, waiting to see any sign of Mary or Jonah or Eve. Suddenly, a blonde head poked up from under the surface and smiled. It was Jonah.

"Have a nice flight?" he grinned, still not coming out completely.

"Great. How's the water?" I asked. Fang started unloading dinner stuff. Yay cereal and energy bars!

"Awesome. Really freaking awesome- but you mind giving me something to wear?" I blushed, remembering he was naked. Nudge was next to me in a mili-second, tossing him his turtle neck. He caught it easily, stood up to his waist and pulled it on.

"NUDGIE!" Mary had yelled from maybe a hundred feet away. She was standing on land behind a tree with Eve next to her, just as hidden. "Clothes? Please? Thanks?"

Nudge sprinted over, passed out turtle-necks, shorts, and underwear, then ran back to me, laughing her little head off.

"What's so funny?" I asked, elbowing her. She giggled, watching Jonah walk with his lower-half still underwater away to change in private.

"Just them- I wonder what would happen if we flew naked..." she trailed off, winking at me. I burst out laughing, imagining it.

Then I stopped and shuddered. _Ew._

* * *

After dinner and relaying our plan about fifty times, everyone tucked in to bed on the cold, hard ground as Jonah took first watch. I chilled by my rock, about to fall asleep, when I heard Jonah snore. I turned on my side and glared.

_So much for look-out. _

Then I got a really weird idea. Just go with me here, okay?

I stood up and tiptoed my way from camp, which was easy since I was a little farther away from everyone than necessary, and threw a rock at Jonah's head just as I took off. The pebble hit him and he gasped awake, looking around. _Wake up, Moby._

With another silent flap of my wings, I flew over the treetops and about two miles from camp and landed in a clearing. When I was completely alone, I slipped off my jeans, my shirt, and kept the understuff on. _I wonder what it would be like flying naked... _

Spreading my wings, I pushed my way into the air, soaring as high as I could go.

_Oh my god. _Flying naked is fun! The air rushes over your skin, keeping you completely cool, and you glide so much easier. I wouldn't trade anything for these wings. _Never._

I flew for about ten more minutes before I was too tired to keep going and went back to the clearing. I landed and started pulling on my jeans when I heard a rustling behind me.

A tall, dark figure stumbled out from behind a bush, cursing and pulling at his arms. "Fucking thorns. Ow! Fuck..."

The man looked at me. I looked at him. Then I realized who it was and remembered I was half-naked with one foot inside my jean leg.

"Fang?!" I squealed, pulling up my jeans and trying to cover myself. He stared for about three seconds too long before he snapped his eyes closed and turned away.

"Crap- sorry, Max! Sorry, oh crap, God- freakin'- what are you doing?!" he stammered, shaking his head. I desperately pulled my shirt on all the way, un-tucking my hair and walked over to him.

_I was flying naked, silly. What are you doing?_

"Just flying," I answered, hitting him on the shoulder and letting him turn around. He eyed me suspiciously before replying.

"Flying naked?" Fang squeaked. I laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of my head.

"Maybe a little bit."

"Oh."

"... Yeah... what are _you _doing?"

"Came looking for you."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Fang bent by my cheek and kissed me once, sending that little jerk of electricity, then pulled away, smiling.

"So you weren't too terrified?" I asked, arching an eyebrow and trying not to blush. Fang shook his head.

"What can I say? _You look pretty half-naked?"_ he rolled his eyes, taking off. I followed him, trying not to blush but failing miserably.

"Do I not look pretty anyway?" I asked, twisting up beside him.

"You're-" he gulped. I blushed. "-beautiful, Max. I just don't see you naked too often... I mean, we could change that," he winked. I slapped him on the back of the head.

"Sexist Pig."

"Naked Wonder."

* * *

**Alrighty! Not too much to say other than I hope you liked and I hope you review or something... uh... wow. I really have nothing to say...**

**THANK YOU!**


	15. Hormones?

**Okay... kind of a suckish chapter... at least in my opinion. Its short but I felt guilty for not putting up anything for like... five days, so I hope this is enough to make people not want to strangle me with sushi wraps...**

**-awkward smile- Uh... I have nothing to say _again._ Please enjoy!**

**Oh, and I've put up some fan-art stuff! Like... four pictures though... I know. I suck.**

**Well, anyway- my account name is shakennotstirred007 on deviantart! I think you can find me if you try, but if you can't, one of my drawings is called "Fax: catching up" so you can search that and go to my gallery if you'd like to.**

**I don't have any fish people pictures up yet... I was sort of on a FAX binge for the past week or so... I'm working on some stuff for that, however I figured you'd appreciate the Fax-looove. Alright, I'm done talking.**

**Thank you! Enjoy!**

* * *

_Pop._

My fingers clenched around my energy bar.

_Pop._

The knuckles on my hand went white.

_Pop._

"GASSER! DO THAT ONE MORE TIME AND I WILL STICK YOU IN A BLENDER, COMPRENDE?!" I screamed, jabbing a finger in Gazzy's direction. He stopped popping his lips and shrunk back in the air. _Good._

We were flying. We had been flying since nine in the morning.

And it was now three in the afternoon. My flock had managed to go six straight hours without landing once.

_Tough guys._

I kept flying, trying to distract myself from the stinging tiredness in my wings. Two days of full-on flight was hard enough but after not taking to the air once for an entire week- _oh my god._

Ouch.

Fang kept glancing at me with a heated stare, like he had been all day after the naked-night-flight incident. It finally started to get to me so I spun around on him in mid-air. My flock flew on but I twitched, studying his face. "Why are you still undressing me with your eyes?"

"... Entertainment?" he answered, flapping his wings to keep up. Nudge had turned around, wondering why we were slowing.

"Well, stop it," I mumbled, beating my wings to catch up with him. He threw a smirk over his shoulder in my direction and chuckled. The color went straight to my cheeks.

"What?"

"How far down does that blush go?"

"WHAT THE HELL, FANG?!" I roared, soaring past him. My flock stared at us, looking back and forth, with the exception of Iggy who stared ahead with a confused look on his face.

I could not get over Fang seeing me half naked. Not possible.

And now he was calling his perverted attitude about it "entertainment"?

_WHAT THE HELL._

Slapping myself on my forehead, I switched into hyper-drive, putting four football-fields between myself and the flock within seconds.

I coasted in the air when I slowed down, catching my breath and sighing.

Who was I kidding? I loved it. The extra attention Fang was giving me just made my happy aura freaking GLOW. Not only had he thought I was pretty, he was still looking at me with that vivid, admiring, and slightly perve-tastic expression.

And all I could do was pretend like it had bothered me in a bad way. Why was I even doing that? Why did I feel it was necessary to over-complicate things and make it seem like I wasn't enjoying his stare? _WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, MAX?_

_Well, at least I wasn't throwing myself off any cliffs..._

I slapped my forehead again, puffing a trapped strand of hair from my lips.

_Why am I still overcomplicating things?_

* * *

Wow.

I can not believe I said that.

Max was flying up ahead, really ticked at me- _as she should be, you jerk-face. _But she's just so cute when she's pretending to be mad...

Sighing, I looked down at the river below. We were traveling over the Mississippi, going on day two of the Mutant-Freaks Cross-Country Tour. From this height, I could only make out Jonah flopping out the water every couple minutes. I shuddered, suddenly great-full I couldn't see any further.

_I can't believe they swim naked._

I unconsciously glanced at Max. After shaking my head once, I flapped my wings harder to catch up with her. The flock followed.

* * *

Eve swam as fast as Jonah and Mary had told her to, only she did it on her back, peering up through the water and into the sky from ten feet below the surface of the Mississippi River. She kept up a constant wave starting at her head, down her spine, and through her legs, surging her way through the river.

Eve was thinking about how fast she was going- about eighty miles an hour. She could hit a hundred if she wanted to, but that's where her speed was limited. No other animal could catch up with Mary, Jonah, or Eve. The other creatures weren't as perfectly designed as they were.

She remembered something that Neil had once told her. "You see these muscles along your head?"

A smaller version of Eve stood in front of a mirror, her chocolaty brown hair pulled off to the sides so she could see the pale skin that hid beneath. Neil stood behind her, one of his hands on her small shoulder and the other running across the skin hidden beneath her hair. Eve tilted her head, not taking her huge glass eyes from where he was touching.

"Since you're not exactly a stream-line shape like fish or sharks, these muscles are here to help you go faster," he explained, taking her hand and placing it above her ear so she could feel the sinewy muscle lurking there. "Humans don't have this kind of anatomy, Eve. Just you, Jonah, and Mary."

She tasted blueberry when he said Mary's name. She bit her tongue at the taste and ran her fingers over the muscle along her head. Behind her, Neil smiled and his brown eyes scrunched. "When you swim, these muscles coordinate themselves to... well, vibrate and move in the opposite direction you're swimming. It might not seem to do much, but it takes away almost all of the drag your shape causes."

Eve slid her hand across her ear and down to her neck, feeling the scales but not noticing them. She mumbled, "Is it like that here, too?"

Neil smiled and nodded. "Yep. You've got the same muscles on your face, neck, shoulders, arms, hips, stomach, and calves. When you swim, they all move."

The four-year old who looked like a second-grader sighed, touching her face. She could make them move if she concentrated... she did, and a ripple of skin shook the shadows on her jaw and forehead. Eve blinked, surprised. "They do move..."

"They sure do, sweetie," Neil mumbled, bending down to kiss the top of her head. He took her hand and they walked back to the room where Mary and Jonah were waiting. "You're operation's tomorrow, so get a good-night's sleep, honey."

"Yes, father."

Eve's memory ended at that point. She could rewind, pause, and replay the more significant events in her life. Her brain had always acted like a movie. Whenever she thought about that, she would taste something bitter coming from the back of her mind.

Eve surged extra hard, feeling the muscles across her body ripple with the water and caught up to Mary and Jonah.

* * *

After another extremely long day of flight and one very hilarious incident involving a flock of geese and Iggy's face, we landed at about eight in the evening. Nudge dealt out clothes to our scaly-friends and we crashed hard.

I woke up early in the morning, probably near five, because my spidey-sense was tingling. Looking around, I noticed that Iggy wasn't here... and neither was Mary!

Gasping, I covered my mouth at the scandal like a gossiping teenager. Fang's eyes shot open and found mine immediately. He mouthed, "What?"

I pointed at where Iggy was then where Mary had fallen asleep. He twitched and smirked.

"What should we do?" he mouthed slowly and silently, sitting up and rustling his black hair. In response, I stood up and tip-toed away. Fang followed me and as soon as we were twenty feet from the mass of sleeping bodies, we took to the air.

My wings were a little sore still but they felt energized. We were in the air for ten seconds before I spotted two pale bodies standing out against the dark ground in the distance. I smiled, pulling closer to the canopy.

Fang and I swooped down in the trees. We grabbed onto two branches and hung from them, careful not to touch the ground or make a sound- Iggy would feel and hear.

After a silent _three-two-one_, we dropped down and ran into the clearing.

Mary shrieked and Iggy sighed dramatically. He was over her, his arms on either side, and she was lying on the ground, hiding her face. They were SO kissing.

"Oh my god, Ig. She's like... eleven!" I burst out laughing and saw Fang laughing, too. He bent over, holding his stomach.

"Well, yeah, technically," Iggy said in his defense, looking extremely embarrassed. Mary was sitting up now, her head buried in her hands and trying not to smile. "But physically, she's like..." he gulped. I laughed harder.

"Oh shut up!" he yelled, doing his best to not smile. Fang was on the ground in hysterics. I fell to my knees and giggled.

Fang managed to choke out something. "Way to go, Jeff."

* * *

**Haha. **

**I imagined that last scene so much better in my head but, since I'm being overly-critical of myself today for some reason, I sucked at writing it -pout-. Oh whatever.**

**And that muscle thing is actually a real-theory, dontchaknow! I've read about it. It also applies to flight! HAH!**

**Okay, so I hoped you enjoyed, blah blah blah, my ankles hurt cause I ran two miles yesterday, blah blah blah, please review, BLAHBLAH, and so on. Thanks!  
**


	16. Getting to the Point

**I liked writing this chapter... it was... interesting.**

**There are some things in here that you may or may not get depending on your level of sarcastic-digestion capabilities, but I think most of you will.**

**Hope you enjoy! Please review- I feel like my writing is slowly... like... melting or something. And thank you!**

* * *

"You're making no sense."

"I'm making gallons of sense."

"More like teaspoons."

"Pints."

"Stop using measurements," I mumbled, rubbing my temples. Nudge and Iggy were really starting to get into it. Nudge seemed pretty put out that Iggy had been K-I-S-S-I-N-G Mary and said, "Would you have kissed me? I'm eleven, too!"

"That's different, Nudge!" he argued, running his pale hands through his strawberry blond hair.

"Oh is it now?" she asked, flying in front of him. Iggy shrugged as best as he could while flying. "I can't believe you made-out with an eleven-year old!"

"She thought he was good," Angel interjected, flying alongside me. I couldn't help but laugh at her innocent expression- my poor darling was going to get serious brain trauma at this rate.

"Oh my god!" Nudge covered her ears and shuddered in mid-air. Iggy blushed. I wondered why Nudge was so annoyed in the first place... although the whole kissing-an-eleven-year-old thing was a darn good argument. But I had already asked Iggy to please keep his mutant-hands off her and he had solemnly agreed.

_Yeah, right. Like that would last._

I choked on a laugh, causing Nudge to glare at me. I looked over at Fang who was flying in silence, maybe ten feet ahead. He turned around and chuckled.

"How did you get by the whole webbing-between-the-fingers and scales thing?" Fang asked, sounding completely casual. I burst out laughing- were guys always like this?

"The leg and chest area make up for it," Iggy mumbled, trying to keep a straight face. He failed. I hit him with my wings, catching him off-guard since, well, he's blind. He fell a few feet then came back up.

"Hormonally-challenged bird-freak," I said, hitting him one more time for the hell of it. Fang laughed, then said something along the lines of "that's about right". Iggy smiled, turning in our directions with those sightless blue-eyes and winked.

"You're calling _me_ hormonally-challenged, Mr. and Mrs. Repressed-sexual-frustration?" Iggy smirked as I stammered to find an really awesome comeback (I just ended up going "Ja-ja-ja-ja..."). Gazzy was doubling-over in the air- yes, it's possible. Nudge was even laughing. Angel just stared at Fang, her face a little horror-struck.

"You saw what?" Angel whispered, clinging to Celeste in disgust. Fang's eyes widened from shock and he looked at me. I glared.

"Whatdidyouthink?" I stammered, watching his slightly-pink face.

"Uh... is that New Mexico?" Fang pointed way down below us. I looked down then mentally noted that I should hurt him later.

"Stop being stupid," I told him.

"I'll try my best," he chuckled, soaring above me.

* * *

I won't exactly explain how we got here, but we got here. We had passed over the barrenly beautiful dessert of New Mexico and Arizona and drove into lower California. After borrowing three different mega-vans and going through one scenario of Angel's mind-manipulation on a state-trooper, my flock and fish-pals were twenty miles away from our destination: Santa Maria.

"It's freaking HOT," Total groaned from the backseat, poking his head out the window. I glared at him in the rearview.

"Imagine how Akila feels," the poor dog was sitting on Iggy's lap in the back-back seat of our borrowed black van- the third one we had... used. Both of their heads were by the crack in the window. Your guess on who's hotter is as good as mine.

Iggy was even panting.

"_I'm bringing sexy back..." _Nudge danced in her seat while the radio sang. "_Yeah_!"

"No." Angel muttered.

"Hit the gas, Fang! Come on!" Mary had forced Gazzy into the backseat so she could sit in the one behind us with Nudge and Angel and be our own personal cheerleader. Oh goody.

"We have a half an hour before the team leaves," she reminded us for the fiftieth time. "Thank god the traffic isn't bad-"

"It's six in the morning!" an annoyed, pre-pubescent voice screeched. Gazzy.

"-because with that and your driving skills, we'd never get to the exit!" she gasped, leaning forward again between us and pointing beyond the windshield. I winced when she practically screamed. "THE EXIT! RIGHT! RIGHT! MERGE, FANG, MERGE!"

Deja vu? Hmph.

_Maximum._

Oh god. The voice was back. _Where were you for the past... forever? On vacation?_

I thought I heard the voice sigh, but I was probably imagining it. Hey? Maybe I was. _No, Max. Just giving you your space. You haven't really need my help, have you?_

Thinking about it, I guess it was right. I hadn't needed much help- things were either just out of my control or in perfect control... nothing bad about that, right? _Nope, sure haven't. And since I'm doing so good without you, can we keep it that way?_

It hesitated. _Be careful, Maximum. How's Fang?_

_I will poke you with a q-tip. Don't think I won't. _The voice chuckled then I was positive it was gone. I sighed. My head was suddenly tired and I was blushing.

I looked up and noticed that we were on the exit. Fang had managed to merge without a hitch and Mary was sitting back, not so close to popping my personal-space bubble. Things were going fine- we were doing just fine by ourselves.

_Then what the hell did the voice talk to me for? _It hadn't said anything important... other than that less-than-cryptic "be careful". You know, I just wish the voices in your head would get to the point and cut the crap. It's _so_ tiring.

* * *

Within twenty minutes, we were at the dock Mary had directed/screamed Fang to. I looked out on the huge, blue, overwhelming Pacific Ocean and felt a pang of sadness.

_Hawaii. You're so close, yet so far away._

I could go for a vacation right about now.

"Alright, Flock- here's the plan," I started as Fang pulled into a parking spot by the beach. Before he even stopped moving, Mary was opening the side-door and leaping out into the heat. "Uh... so..."

The rest of the van followed her. Eve skipped.

Sighing, I tried to push open my door but it was a little sticky. I rammed my shoulder into it and before I connected, it swung open, jolting the van and knocking me out of my seat. Before I hit the ground, Fang's hands were around my elbow and waist, putting me back on my feet with a muscular, fast tug.

I looked at him and smiled nervously. Since I'm usually the one doing the rescuing, this was weird for me. I said nothing and looked past him at the dock. Mary was sprinting up it, followed by everyone else at a walking pace. I started to follow them.

"Hey, Damsel," Fang said, walking next to me and putting his wiry, hard arm over my shoulder. I felt the surge of electricity then shut it down. He called me DAMSEL.

"Hey, emo," I smiled, elbowing him in the side. He moved away a little but didn't take his arm with him.

"Ouch. That's cold. So what's your opinion on Mary's plan?" we both looked ahead and saw her finally reach the boat. She yelled at a man and he turned around, looking surprised. We were about a hundred feet away when Mary said something to make the guy smile and nod. She jumped on the boat and immediately started a conversation. _Mary- quick and to the point._

"I think it's a good plan. It'll work," I mumbled, not one-hundred percent sure about this. Mary's plan was to get a job on a deep-sea expedition, find something "National-Geographic" worthy to show to the tabloids in order to raise awareness not only on the genetic-freak front but on the front-lines of ocean conservation.

In theory, it was solid. In practice...

When we reached the boat, Jonah, Mary, and Eve were all on it. My flock stood hesitantly by the dock while Mary struck up a conversation with the man that had smiled at her. He looked to be in his early twenties- fresh out of college. The guy had a wicked head of hair that was pulled back in a low pony-tail ending at his shoulder blades.

Man. That hair.

I focused on the look in his eyes. He seemed kind and when he smiled and nodded as Mary babbled, they lit up with mild curiosity and... oh? What's this- humor.

"Our reason for bugging you at six-twenty in the morning, Mr. Burson, mister-fancy-ichthyologist-expert, to put a long story short, is because you're going to need to add three more people to your payroll," Mary grinned, leaning against the white, expensive-looking railing of the boat. Everyone gaped at her except for someone...

The guy laughed. "And why's that?"

Mary just kept grinning then closed both her eyes. She opened them slowly, moving her head to the left and biting her biting her lip for a second before she turned to us, her big, blue stare still focused on the guy...

_OH MY GOD! STICKY EYES! I read that in _Teen Vogue _once!_

"Let me introduce you to..." she hesitated, still leaning against the railing but sticking her foot out to tap the back of Jonah's legs. "... _my brother. _Jonah." He dipped his head as she strangled a laugh. "This is Eve." She gestured to the adorable girl sitting with her legs over the rail in a dress and turtle-neck.

"You guys want to introduce yourselves?" Mary beamed at us. Ok. I wasn't liking this. She had a look in her eye... like she knew something was going to work but I couldn't possibly hope to guess what it was.

_I know something you don't know!_

"Uh... this is... Maxine," Fang introduced me before I could introduce myself and used my sissy-name. I objected by stepping on his toe- HARD- but he didn't even wince. "This is..."

"Isabella!" Angel called, bowing. I snickered.

"Tiffany-Krystal. Call me Tiffany," Nudge took the chance to introduce herself. She _also_ bowed for some reason...

"... Jerome." Oh my god. Iggy. I'd have to pretend to fall in the water to keep the guy from hearing my laughter...

"Yo. I'm G. Just G," Gasman. Oh my god. _Holla at your bird, biyatch_.

"This is Fnick. It's Swedish," I stuck my arm over Fang's shoulder before he could even open his mouth. He stomped my foot.

The guy looked slightly confused, but not terrified and he hadn't called the cops yet, so I ruled him out as okay. Not "trustable" but okay. "I'm Jason."

"Hi, Jason," my flock said in unison. This was like a double A meeting.

_I'm Max and I have a voice in my head._

_-Hi, Max._

I smiled and saw Mary stand up out of the corner of my eye. "As I was saying, you'll be taking myself, Eve, and Jonah along with you."

Jason arched an eyebrow, trying not to smile but failing miserably. "Okay. I'll bite. Why's that?"

She took a step closer to him, pulling out her best charm. She said slowly, over-pronouncing every word, "because we can do more than any of the fancy deep-water equipment you've got on this boat."

"Oh really?" Jason said, staring at her. He looked really confused now. "Do you have a sub or something...?"

"Nope. Just this," Mary pulled down her turtleneck and opened her gills once. The red, fleshy skin parted and closed. Jason's mouth dropped.

"What...?" he whispered, reaching out to touch her gills.

"Count out-loud if you want. You'll know when I get back," With a casual, light laugh, Mary walked backwards to the railing and into it, tumbling over the edge and making a loud "splash".

Jason leaped to the side, looking over in shock, confusion, and the uncontrollable interest of a scientist. "WHAT IS SHE DOING?!"

Strolling up to Jason and putting one pale hand on his shoulder, Jonah sighed. "She's such a show-off. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

I tried not to laugh but couldn't help it anymore. I know- I'm weak.

* * *

**I need more Fax.**

**Who else needs more Fax? Wait- don't answer that. I'll make Fax and I'll make it soon.**

**Much love! Please review/favorite/party like a rockstar... THANKS!**

**By the way- just picture a guy like Iggy say "... JEROME." and doing the peace-sign while jutting out his crotch. Again, Thanks!**


	17. Goodbye? Sorta?

**Oh my god.**

**Please do not kill me for updating this like two weeks after I posted my last chapter... andfornotincludingabigFaxnessscenelikeIhadpromiseddon'tkillmeeee...**

**I am really SO sorry though. Like... you don't understand how the guilt is murdering me. Well, you might, but still.**

**I had a trip thingy that was supposed to be three days long then _BAM_- became five. Then right when I got home from said trip, _BAM_- I end up leaving on another five day trip to my friend's beach house.**

**And when I got back, well... Breaking Dawn was released, so... -shot-**

**please... enjoy... the Faxless... chapter... I PROMISE more... Faxness... next one... I swear. -dies kinda-.**

* * *

"Jason? Colin and Seth are ready to go. They've got all the wires below deck hooked up and..."

While I was in hysterics and Angel was about ready to slap me upside the head, I heard a new voice rising in volume. A woman came out from a door leading to the cabin holding four buoys and a camera. Her brown curls were violently frizzy and when she looked up, noticing us for the first time, her mouth snapped open.

_What? Am I that terrifying?_

"Uh... hi," the lady gave a wry smile, glancing at Jason who was staring intently at the water, not responding. _At least she's not running away in horror. _I jumped on the boat, still giggling.

"Hi," my flock said in perfect unison, flashing brilliant, adorable mutant-freak smiles. Fang slapped on his poker-face just as the woman seemed to relax a little, the confusion still obviously widening her eyes. I'd be confused, too. Poor thing.

"SARAH! THIS GIRL- SHE- I DON'T KNOW- OH MY GOD- SHE HAS THESE..." Jason darted over to "Sarah", grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her like a magic 8-ball. I arched an eyebrow, not sure what he was trying to say either.

"English, please?" Sarah mumbled, just as Jonah leaned against the rail next to Eve. Speaking of Eve, she was oddly... Fang-ish at the moment. By Fang-ish, or Fnick-ish, I mean she had on a poker-face, too. Usually her lips were pulled up at the edges in a slight, natural smile.

_Why is she so tense?_

"This girl... has gills," Jason gasped. He quit it with the shaking but his hands held on to her shoulders in excitement.

"...Are you insane? What girl" she mumbled in a barely interested tone, brushing his hands off.

"That's not important! The girl has gills!" Jason squealed, pointing a finger behind him in the direction where Mary had done her oh-so-dramatic back dive/fall into the water. Too bad I was the one standing there.

Sarah looked at me and I noticed her confused looking eyes were ocean blue, almost violet in the freshly-slapped pink of sunrise. "Are you tripping?"

I scrunched my face, glancing at Fang. He had the palm of his hand pressed against his forehead, trying not to smile. "Who? Me? I don't even know what that means."

"Not you, this nutcase-" she jabbed Jason in the chest with her thumb. "Who are you kids by the way?" Sarah asked, looking around at the rest of the flock. I sighed as the flock re-introduced themselves.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing when Iggy said _Jerome _though.

"Nice to meet you- I'm Sarah. Why are you... on this boat? We're scheduled to leave in five minutes," Sarah said, elbowing Jason in the side. He was counting out loud.

"TWO MINUTES! She's been in the water two minutes!" he yelled, running back to the edge to check the murky water that sloshed against the boat. My sea-legs aren't so good. I was already starting to get nauseous.

"Who has? Sar, what's going on?" a short, stocky man came out of the cabin. I gave him the quick once-over. He looked like a... well, I don't know but my nausea was REALLY starting to tick me off. I mentally noted not to trust people on ships- EVER. _Who can stand the lack of solid footing?!_

But just because of my one bad experience at the south pole, does that make all sea-dogs bad? _... Yeah. It does._

Fair enough.

I silently considering how I would kill them if I had to.

"This girl-" Jason started, but shut up immediately. A blonde head surfaced about thirty yards from the boat and beamed.

"What? What happened?" Iggy said.

"How long was I under?" Mary called out, rolling on her back and kicking her way over. All us mutants waved at her from the dock. She waved back.

"Like two and a half minutes," Jonah yelled back.

"Do you get it now?" she asked, making eye contact with Jason. He gaped at her. "I guess..." he trailed off, turning back to Sarah and that dude. _That dude._

"What the hell is going on, Jason? Explain. Now." She mumbled, crossing her arms. Jason inhaled, trying to calm himself down while Mary climbed up the ladder on the side of the dock. Iggy helped her up the rest of the way. _Aw. How cute. _

_FOCUS._

"Ok. Long story short, we've got gills. Sign myself, her, and that guy up and you've got three very cheap and versatile deep-water probes, get it?" she put her hands on her hips, jutting one out to the side in the bored-looking way that I usually do. _Damn her. That's my look._

"Uh... what?" the guy behind our new pal Sarah blinked.

Mary sighed as Jonah massaged his temples. She pulled down her turtleneck to flash her fleshy gills once again then let everyone get a quick look at the scales. "What are you people not getting?"

Jason, Sarah, and that dude stood in shock. Their mouths were all open wide and their eyes about as big as Eve's at that moment. I looked over at Eve and saw the way she was sitting on the rail.

Her thin arms wrapped tight around her stomach with her legs pressed together. Her body gave one hard wave of shaking and then she jumped off the railing and onto the boat deck. Mary glanced over at Eve, saw her crumpled on the deck, and instantly went over and touched her head. "Honey, are you okay?"

Eve didn't say anything. She just sat there, looking pale... well, paler and very fragile. Angel was suddenly tugging my sleeve. "Max, she's sick."

"Bad sick?" I said letting a worried tone slip into my voice. Angel thought about that for a second then shook her head.

"Not too bad- it's her... stomach," she finished with a meaningful look.

_Oh. What?_

By that time, the boat's crew was looking pretty confused. I repeated what Angel had just told me and they nodded, looking wary.

"Ok, can you take us with you or what?" Jonah looked over his shoulder, now on his knees beside Eve. Jason nodded once, completely sure of himself. _Way to go, Jason-fruitcake!_

Sarah elbowed him again. "What the hell are you thinking? We're not taking three random kids- let alone three random kids and one who's sick!"

"You want to get paid big-money that we never make or what, Sarah? Think about how they could help us," he finished, heading over to where Eve was clutching her stomach.

That hit me like a ton of bricks. _Her stomach._

_The baby... duh!_

I shut that thought down hard. It took a lot to think about that little girl having a child. Way too stressful to think about.

Sarah stood gaping like a fish out of water (Ha-ha. Irony much?). "Jason- we can't take a bunch of kids with us. We don't even know where their parents are-"

"And you don't need to," Jonah told her, making firm and slightly... well, intimidating eye-contact for a fish-boy. "But you're taking us, end of story."

Sarah glared at him but turned around and headed into the cabin, shutting the door behind her very loudly. Iggy scowled. "What's her problem?"

_Gee. I wonder, Ig._

"Do you guys-" the stocky man said as he looked at all us mutant freaks with mild-curiousity. "Have gills, too? Like her?"

Mary smiled as my flock shook their heads. Jonah picked Eve up in his arms and put her on a chair. "We do."

Jason nodded and turned back to the cabin. "Uh... is there anything you want to bring?"

"Nope," Mary said walking over to me.

"Right... uh... this probably isn't the best idea but I guess you're going with us, aren't you?" he mumbled, suddenly rethinking things.

_A group of extremely pale freaks and tall kids show up at your boat-step and one of them tosses herself into the ocean for two minutes, has gills, and is telling you you're taking her and some friends along for a trip?_

... I'd say, "FUCK NO."

But that's just me. And I wouldn't cuss.

Mary and Jonah nodded, ending the conversation. Jason slipped into the cabin and the second after he closed the door, I heard muffled yelling and cussing.

Mary tapped me on the shoulder. "I guess this is goodbye for a while..."

_Oh. I forgot about that... what good were we on a deep-water expedition?_

"Yep. Sounds like it..." I trailed off, looking out at nothing in particular.

Ok, so I'm not the touchy-feely type of person... well, I didn't used to be as big of one as I've been lately, so to put things in perspective: I felt like I could trust our fish-friends.

And that's rare. There were only five other people on this planet I could trust- but now... did that number grow?

Having to say goodbye was hard, but I managed. My flock and my fish-buddies all hugged, shook hands, and bumped fists then stood on the dock watching as the boat went away.

I was vaguely aware of Fang's hand gripping mine. He leaned over and kissed me before I knew what was happening. One small peck on the cheek and I had forgotten about the boat slowly growing smaller on the distance and the people on it.

Like the girl who could be a lot of things- motherly, childish, angry, confident. A boy who I didn't understand but understood all the same. And a little girl who couldn't talk or tell us anything about the baby inside her.

I hitched in one breath and felt my throat catch.

Was I crying?

_Ok. Enough touchy-feely-ness for one day._

* * *

"Flock. Move out," I mumbled, wiping my eyes once and quickly, so it seemed like I was just pushing hair out of my face or something. "Come on, Ig. Stop staring- it's not like you can see them anyway."

"Don't mock the sad blind kid," he mumbled, hitting his foot on a raised wooden board as he turned around. "Firetruck!"

"So much for sonar, huh?" Fang smirked.

"Shut it, Fnick. I'm distracted... you think they'll..."

"Ig, they're going to be just fine," at least I hoped so. He didn't look convinced. In fact, he looked extremely guilty. "Iggy... are you okay?"

"... Max, they need protection," he mumbled, stopping completely in his tracks. I eyed him, notting getting what he had said.

"What makes you think that? Who could-"

"They're after the baby. It's not like they can defend themselves if anything bad happens out there either... they can't fight," Iggy stared at the ground, speaking in barely a whisper.

_Oh my god. Good point._

"He's right, Max!" Nudge chirped, gasping a little. "What if someone comes for them?"

"Nudge, that's really unlike-" Fang started, but couldn't finish.

"They need bodyguards," Nudge babbled, planning something out in her head. "If the whitecoats are after the Eve and that baby, then Mary and Jonah can't exactly stop them, can she?"

I thought back to Mary jumping on that guy's neck, snapping it like a tooth-pick. "...I think Mary can."

"Doesn't matter! What if they get hurt? Or the crew?"

Remembering Sarah's attitude, I tried not to smile. Angel read my mind and narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, so you have a point, but the chances are-"

"Really high, Max. We have to follow them," Iggy told me, sounding bolder than he'd ever been. Who's safety was this really about...

I glanced at Fang and felt the pang of electricity when his eyes caught mine for a split-second. _Oh. Of course. Now I get it!_

"Fine. But I think the crew would much rather get attacked by giant squid then have to feed our sorry-butts for god knows how long."

Too bad the squeals and sound of flapping wings completely drowned me out mid-sentence. I sighed and followed my flock into the air, secretly hoping they really DID have enough food for six... well, nine extra passengers.

_That poor little expedition never saw us coming._

* * *

**YAY FOR RUN-ON CHAPTERS THAT NEVER SEEM TO END OR MAKE ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER.**

**... you're still mad about the forever-later-update, aren't you? ... -facedesked-.**

**More to come... eventually but sooner than last time. So sorry. Really.**


	18. They're back?

**Oh. Dear. God. Please. Do. Not. Kill. Me.**

**SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY.**

**Ok, I know I havent posted in MONTHS and this is really, really short but my english class has been pure chaos and I haven't had the attention span as of late to write another long chapter but winter break is almost here and I promise I will finish at least two!!! Or try to! I'm so sorry!**

**It's really short but at least enjoy and they'll hopefully be more on the way relatively soon!**

* * *

Mary sat inside the deck-house with a very tired Eve on her right and an overly obnoxious Jonah on her left.

There was a bald, fat man sitting across from them, reading a magazine and sipping coffee, with the occasional glance in their direction. Mary bit her lip, wondering how much longer the yelling outside would go on for.

"THREE FREAKING KIDS WITH GILLS, JONAH! ARE YOU COMPREHENDING WHAT THAT IMPLIES?" that would be the cheerful, perky, poodle-headed Sarah.

"NO!" Jason. Mary had decided she quite liked him from the first second. _A nice guy. Trustable. Easy-going. Just childish enough to be rational while defending three mutant runaways._

"Uhm... I'll be back in a minute... help yourself to some more coffee if you want, okay?" bald, fat guy stood up. Mary thought his name was Gerald, but didn't really care. She had forgotten the cup of coffee resting in her very tense hands, still warm.

"Thanks, man," Jonah reached forward and poured the rest of maybe-Gerald's coffee into his own cup as he left the cabin. "So. You think the crazy-eyed chick is gonna strangle us while we sleep?"

Another high-pitched scream coming from outside, followed by more cursing and "YOU BEST GET OUT OF MY FACE".

"Most likely, yes." Mary mumbled, starting to braid her hair out of boredom and anxiety.

"Ish." Eve muttered, sighing dramatically.

"Oh, honey," Mary sighed, running her hand over the little girl's arm. She had been sick earlier, but seemed to be okay now. "What does that mean?"

Suddenly, the door to the cabin burst open and in popped crazy-frizzed-out-hair lady, Sarah. _Hallelujiah._

"You three," she said in a tone that clearly hovered on the brink of a break-down. "Outside. Now. Explain to me what _exactly_ I'm witnessing."

"Uh... okay..." Mary, Jonah, and Eve all stood up, ducking out of the little cabin and more worried than before. As soon as they were outside, they glanced around the endless expanse of ocean, made darker than usual by the twilight. Mary looked up, a second too late.

And without warning, Iggy fell from the sky.

"JEROME'S BACK!"

* * *

**More to come! Promise!**


	19. Too Much and Too Little

**Looky! Looky! I got some done! :D YAAAY!**

**Oh, and this chapter gets serious. It's time I develope my characters further!**

* * *

To put it lightly, six mutant bird-freaks plus three mutant fish-freaks in one relatively small cabin on a moderately large ship is SO not a good thing. _Ohmygod... something's touching me!_

"Ohfortheloveofgod, WHO'S FOOT IS THAT?" I practically screamed. Everyone around me, especially Iggy and Fang who were parallel-parked in between the wall and the table where Mary, Jonah, and Eve were all sitting at, winced. Angel sat under the table, legs folded, pouting. Nudge and Gazzy were squished on either side of the door.

"Mine?" Iggy suggested, twisting a little to his left and digging his elbow into my appendix... _do I even have one of those?_

"No, that's mine," Fang mumbles, trying to force some more room via pushing but, oh, I'm not having that.

"Oh, my bad."

"Nah, nah- honest mistake."

I sighed, slapping my palm against my forehead. _God, what is this? An eight by ten foot room?! PLUS A TABLE? THE HELL-_

"Please, oh my god, _please_ remind me why you all had to follow us?" Mary's pressing her thumb and forefinger against the bridge of her nose, head down, obviously frustrated. Of course, we'd already explained... well, Iggy had already explained.

_-FLASHBACK-_

_"Hi guys! We figured you needed body guards!" Iggy chirped._

_From underneath him, Mary screams, "YOU'RE CRUSHING MY SPINAL COLUMN!"_

_Iggy leaps up, taking her by the arm and gracefully pulling her onto her feet and sliding one pale arm around her waist. "Sorry, Mary. Do you feel better now?"_

_He moves in dangerously close for a kiss in front of the entire crew... and she punches him in the face. Iggy's head snaps forward then back on impact, causing him to fall backwards and thunk onto the deck. Jaws drop._

_"I do now."_

_-END FLASHBACK-_

"Come on, Mary, you know you missed us," said Gazzy enthusiastically. He tries to flash a perfectly adorable smile but fails miserably when the door flings open and crushes him- it also manages to hit the back of my ankle. I wince. Fang goes "Oooooo."

And in comes that Jason guy! "Hey kiddos!"

He doesn't even notice the sound of scratching on the door that he's pressing against the wall. Gazzy's probably trying to claw his way to freedom. What a fantastic mental picture!

"SO, uh, Sarah's gone nuclear, which, believe it or not, is a good thing!" he looks absolutely uncomfortable and there's a visable drop of sweat on his forehead. Hah. The rest of the cabin happens to think this is not good news. "Trust me- once she finally snaps, its all downhill from ther-"

"Is she going to kill us now?!" Nudge asks, looking paranoid. Mary jumps in to comfort her.

"Oh, sweetheart. Not that kind of downhill! He means the kind of downhill that means things will calm down, not the kind that means they're going to get much, much, _much _worse!" Mary smiled, giving Jason an annoyed, isn't-that-right? sort of glare.

"You would know." Jason mumbled, earning himself a smack over the head from Mary. God, she's stressed. Well, hell, I am, too.

"Pay attention! So this means that, while fighting tooth-and-nail to get you guys to stay on our scientific trip, I have just barely succeeded." he paused, as if expecting a chorus of cheering to break out. Which happens.

"Even us?" I ask, tilting my head when the noise dies down.

"Even you... on one _very... _tight condition."

* * *

"What in the hell is he playing at?"

I'm standing in the doorway of one of the rooms on the ship which is to be "our bedroom."

Who is "our" you may ask?

Oh, just me, Nudge, Angel, Mary, and Eve. In ONE BED AND A COUCH.

"Well, there's always the floor, eh?" Nudge muttered, strolling over to the bed and sitting down. Angel followed her, Eve in tow, and I turned to Mary. She's standing just outside the doorway, looking down the hall. Her face seems... well, sad. And worried. And resilient. _We really are a lot alike sometimes._

"Mary? Do you... want to talk or something?" I asked quietly. She doesn't turn her head for a few long seconds and I start to grow uncomfortable. Suddenly, she starts walking down the hall and to the door with EXIT in bright red over the top.

"Yeah, come on." I hear her say but for some reason its like she's not even saying it.

Now I'm worried.

* * *

We're standing on the deck, looking out over the black expanse where the stars disappear into the horizon. It's cold and my legs are getting goose-bumps.

"What did you want to talk about?" Mary asked, not looking in my direction. She's got her chin resting in her hand and her hair gently slides back and forth in the cool air.

"Is something wrong? You seemed okay earlier, really... happy, but now you're... uh..." _God, I suck at mouth-words! THINK MAXIMUM! THINK TO THE MAX! "_Not... happy. Since we showed...?"

Oh, dear god. Give me a medal for that one.

"It's fine, really... I'm okay, too," she mumbled, still not looking at me. "Who am I kidding? That's a lie." She paused again, lowering her head and her voice. "I don't know if... if I can do this, Max. You're family and mine? This was all my idea... I can't do this..."

Mary brings her hand up to her eyes and rubs them. I suddenly know that she's about to cry. "You can do this."

"No, I can't!" She turned to me, but I couldn't see her face. The moon illuminated the back of her head, a silver halo. "I'm not like you! I don't get things done! I don't win!"

I stared at her, silent, knowing there's more she wanted to say.

"I can't protect my family like you- I'm not a leader! I know we're a lot alike, but we're different, too! I'm _horrible_ and I _fake_ what I'm feeling!"

She's crying now. I saw the glistening skin on her cheeks. I'm stunned into silence.

"You protect and thrive and _live _and I just..." she said, her voice exasperated. "I just _kill_. I ruin things."

After a few seconds, I turned my head to look back out on the ocean when she whispered it. "I don't deserve them."

"Who?" I asked quietly, just barely curious. I know who she means.

"Eve. Jonah. They're not mine. They don't need someone who kills people... someone who can't save them... not good enough for them."

And I bent down right then, to where she had sunk on her knees, and I slapped her.

Mary didn't move. She just kept staring at the floor. I think that's what set me off, too.

"Not good enough for them?! They love you, Mary! Eve, Jonah, even freaking Iggy- they love you! You deserve that-"

"I've done horrible things..." she muttered, trailing off.

"You have. And you feel horrible for them, don't you?" I ask her, sitting on my knees in front of her. "And that's all you can do about those things."

"I'm not like you, Max," she said, starting to grow frantic. "I don't deserve a family. I can't keep them together, I can't lead them, I can't even protect them! Eve's fucking pregnant! She's being followed! We're constantly in danger!"

I laugh. "SO?"

"So what?" she said, indignant.

"So you learn to protect them-"

"I'm not like you-"

"-and you learn that you don't have to save them all the time either."

Mary tilts her head up and stares straight at me. "How?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "You learn."

She's quiet again but then seems to find something else to say. "I'm a killer, too. I killed a guard. Then another guard. And then Neil..." Mary bursts into a sob and I don't know what to do. You have to give me points for going this far, but I'm really clueless when it comes to advice/therapy stuff. I felt trapped. But somehow, the next word's come naturally.

"That's all over now, Mary. Let it go. You're sorry and that proves you're not a killer- you're just human."

And then I, by some miracle, get a sincere laugh out of her as she runs her hand over her eyes, wiping up tears. "I'm only ninety-eight percent human, you know."

I smiled. "Same here- the other two percent run on instinct.... I know you can do this if you trust that part of you."

Mary looked up at me, and I see that her normal, confident, almost-arrogant (but, now I know, terrified) face slowly returning and I suddenly realize who I had been saying everything to: her and myself. "Yeah. I'll try."

* * *

**How's that? **

**I feel like my perspective's been switching back and forth from mildly present to past-tense... its so annoying. But I'm really happy to finally show a bit more of Mary- she's my favorite OC. It's like she's got way more going on than she can handle and most of it's coming from inside her own head- I'm sure everyone can relate, you know? I'd like to try and develope JP's originals, but I didn't create them, so I'm not going to touch much on their characters- only Max.**

**Jonah's different... he knows what he's thinking and he just handles the circumstances. Mary, on the other hand, is crazily confused but manages to keep it together- sorta like Max but not like her, too! Eve... is Eve. She's nostalgic, relaxed, and loves her family. That's all there is to her, really... but I feel like there's something else to Eve, despite her simplicity, that is deeper- I just haven't figured it out yet!**

**Okay :D And to one of my really awesome reviewers who signed with a ":)"- THANKS! That review made me go "Ok! I'll write the next one right now!" So thank you- you and everyone else!**


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